OLYMPIC ATHLETES
2021 HOPEFULS / COMPETITORS
Simone Biles – 24 – Gymnastics – ADHD
Simone Arianne Biles (born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. With a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated American gymnast and the world’s third most decorated gymnast.
Check out this article about Simone here.
Carissa Moore – 28 – Surfer – Eating Disorder
Carissa Kainani Moore (born August 27, 1992) is an American professional surfer and the 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019 WSL Women’s World Tour Champion.
In 2013, she was named by Glamour magazine as one of their Women of the Year. She became a member of the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in 2014.
Check out this article about Carissa here.
François Imbeau-Dulac – 30 – Diver – Eating Disorder
François Imbeau-Dulac (born 9 December 1990) is a Canadian diver.
He began diving at the age of 9, and began competing internationally in 2006. In 2011 Imbeau-Dulac broke the Canadian record in the 1m springboard event. He competed in the 3 m springboard event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He placed 13th, just short of making the final.
Check out this article about François here.
Raven Saunders – 25 – Shot Put – Depression
Raven Saunders is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and discus throw. She won three NCAA collegiate titles in the shot put for the University of Mississippi. She was a world junior medalist in 2014 and the Pan American junior champion in 2015. She holds a personal record of 19.33 m (63 ft 5 in) for the shot put.
Check out this article about Raven here.
Allison Schmitt – 31 – Swimming – Depression
Allison Rodgers Schmitt is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle events, and is an eight-time Olympic medalist. In her Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Schmitt won a bronze medal as a member of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
Check out this article about Allison here.
Dual Athletes
This sections highlights a few athletes who have competed in both the Olympics and the Paralympics.
(Check out the Paralympics and Beyond page here)
Marla Runyan (USA) – 52 – Middle Distance Runner
Visually Impaired
Natalia Partyka (POL) – 31 – Table Tennis
Born without right hand and forearm
Natalie du Toit (RSA) – 37 – Swimming
Above the knee amputee
Assunta Legnante (ITA) – 43 – Shot put
Visually impaired
Pál Szekeres (HUN) – 56 – Fencing
Wheelchair user
Ilke Wyludda (GER) – 52 – Discus/Shot put
Right leg amputee
Olympians Throughout History
Quick Background About the Olympics
On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long-lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening of the Athens Games, King Georgios I of Greece and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed athletes from 13 nations to the international competition.
The first recorded Olympic Games were held at Olympia in the Greek city-state of Elis in 776 B.C., but it is generally accepted that the Olympics were at least 500 years old at that time. The ancient Olympics, held every four years, occurred during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus.
George Eyser (USA) -1904 – Gymnastics
American gymnast George Eyser, who had a wooden leg, competed at the 1904 Summer Olympics, and won three gold medals, two silver, and a bronze.
Check out a Podcast about George here.
Oliver Halassy (HUN) – 1928-1936 – Water Polo
Oliver Halassy of Hungary, whose left leg was amputated below the knee, won three medals (two gold and a silver) in water polo in the Olympic Games of 1928, 1932, and 1936.
Learn more about Oliver here.
Karoly Takacs (HUN) – 1948 – Shooting
Karoly Takacs, also from Hungary, won gold in shooting at the 1948 Summer Olympics. His right hand had been destroyed by a hand grenade ten years earlier, and he had taught himself to shoot with his left.
Learn more about Karoly here.
Lis Hartel (DEN) – 1952 – Equestrian Dressage
Lis Hartel was one of the first women allowed to compete against men in the equestrian dressage. Despite being paralysed below the knees after contracting polio in 1944, when she was 23, Hartel was chosen to represent Denmark in the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. She responded by earning the silver medal.
Learn more about Lis here.
Harold Connolly (USA) – 1956-1968 – Hammer Throw
Harold Connolly was an Olympic hammer throwing gold medalist at the Melbourne Olympic Games of 1956. A fact made remarkable by the fact that he had Erb’s Palsy, which meant that his left arm was some 4.5 inches shorter than his right arm, far less muscularly developed and his left hand was two-thirds the size of his right hand.
Learn more about Harold here.
Im Dong-Hyun (KOR) – 2004-2012 – Archery
South Korean archer Im Dong-Hyun has 20/200 vision in his left eye and 20/100 vision in his right eye, meaning he is legally blind in his left eye. He won Olympic gold in the team competition in 2004 and 2008, and bronze in 2012.
Learn more about Im here.
Information for this section was obtained from Athletes with a disability and the Olympic Games | paralympicanorak (wordpress.com)