PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: athletics
Swedish athlete
Carolina Klüft, Swedish track-and-field athlete who won a gold medal in the heptathlon at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Her father, Johnny Klüft, was a Swedish first-division football (soccer) player,...
Algerian athlete
Noureddine Morceli, Algerian middle-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist who broke multiple world records in the 1990s. At age seven Morceli was inspired by his brother Abderrahmane, a world-class...
British athlete
Mo Farah, Somalian-born British distance runner who won gold medals in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Farah and his twin brother,...
Kenyan athlete
Yobes Ondieki, Kenyan distance runner who surprised observers in 1993 by setting a world record in the 10,000 metres, an event he had not run on a track in 10 years. At the time, his performance was considered...
Kenyan runner
Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, Kenyan runner who became the first man to win the Chicago Marathon and the Boston Marathon in the same year (2006). Cheruiyot, a Nandi tribesman, enjoyed success as a high-school...
Ethiopian athlete
Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopian distance runner who at the 2008 Beijing Olympics became the first woman to win gold in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races. She defended her gold medal title in the 10,000...
British athlete
Sebastian Coe, British athlete, who won four Olympic medals and set eight world records in middle-distance running. His great rivalry with fellow Briton Steve Ovett dominated middle-distance racing for...
American football player, jurist, and writer
Alan Page, American gridiron football player, jurist, and writer who in 1971 became the first defensive player to win the Most Valuable Player award of the National Football League (NFL). He later served...
Finnish athlete
Paavo Nurmi, Finnish track athlete who dominated long-distance running in the 1920s, capturing nine gold medals in three Olympic Games (1920, 1924, 1928), as well as three silvers. For eight years (1923–31)...
Romanian athlete
Iolanda Balas, Romanian athlete, the dominant performer in the women’s high jump during the late 1950s and ’60s. She won two Olympic gold medals in the event, set 14 world records, and was the first woman...
Polish athlete
Irena Szewińska, Polish sprinter who dominated women’s athletics for nearly two decades. Between 1964 and 1976, she earned seven Olympic medals, tying the record of Australian Shirley Strickland de la...
Norwegian athlete
Grete Waitz, Norwegian marathoner who dominated women’s long-distance running for more than a decade, winning the New York City Marathon nine times between 1978 and 1988 (she did not compete in 1981 or...
Chinese athlete
Liu Xiang, hurdler who in 2004 brought China its first Olympic gold medal in a men’s track-and-field event. Liu enrolled in a junior sports school in fourth grade and initially succeeded at the high jump....
American athlete
Parry O’Brien, American shot-putter who developed a style that revolutionized the event. He held the world record from 1953 to 1959, increasing the distance from 18 metres (59 feet 34 inches) to 19.30...
French athlete and pianist
Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete who won gold medals in the shot put and the discus throw at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. She was also an accomplished concert pianist. Ostermeyer’s first love...
British athlete
Steve Ovett, British athlete, who, along with his great rival, Sebastian Coe, dominated middle-distance running in the early 1980s. The winner of gold and bronze medals at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow,...
Irish-American athlete
John J. Flanagan, Irish-American athlete, the first Olympic hammer throw champion, who won three Olympic gold medals and set 14 world records. A powerfully built man, standing 5 feet 8 inches (1.78 m)...
Moroccan athlete
Hicham El Guerrouj, Moroccan middle-distance runner, who became the first man to hold world records in the mile and the 1,500-metre races both indoors and outdoors. El Guerrouj—inspired by the accomplishments...
American athlete
Al Oerter, American discus thrower, who won four consecutive Olympic gold medals (1956, 1960, 1964, and 1968), setting an Olympic record each time. During his career he set new world records four times...
French athlete
Marie-José Pérec, French athlete who was the first sprinter to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 400-metre dash. Pérec grew up on the West Indian island of Basse-Terre in Guadeloupe, an overseas...
American athlete
Ralph Metcalfe, American sprinter, member of the American 4 × 100-meter relay team that won a gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. At his peak, in 1934–35, he was called “the world’s fastest...
American athlete
Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish-American athlete who, during an unusually long career (over 20 years), won two Olympic medals and some 40 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and was credited with...
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