# Ever known an Olympian? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2000, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551 "2000-09-18T01:32:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kipper)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/41 "2000-09-20T04:53:32Z")
I know two people in Sydney right now. Jenny Egnot used to beat the pants of me at yachting back when we were both about 14. She’s a good prospect for a medal, after coming fourth in the preolympic regata, in the womans 470 class so I don’t feel so bad about it now. Rachel Petrie buys sushi from me. Shes playing hockey right now and is also in with a chance for a medal especially if they can beat the Dutch today. My fencing coach compeated in the Barcelona Olympics but I can’t for the life of me remember his name. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/42 "2000-09-20T14:00:34Z")
One of the guys in the office has a daughter in the Olympics right now. She just won a gold and set a world record in the womens 4x200 freestyle! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/43 "2000-09-20T19:57:11Z")
Back in the 70’s when I was a kid, at our school sports banquet I had the pleasure of meeting Carmen Barth, now deceased, who won a boxing gold medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. He was a very kind and friendly man. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/44 "2000-09-21T03:45:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shodan \* > \*\*I do martial arts, and have a black belt at judo (check the user name). > > I trained with Irwin Cohen, who went to the Olympics in 1972 as a middleweight in judo. I got my ass kicked in 1972 in the Junior Nationals by his brother Steve, who is the coach of this year’s American judo team. There is actually a picture of me fighting Steve in an issue of the old “Judo Illustrated” magazine. Unfortunately, I am airborne at the time. > > I also fought Steve Seck, who went to the World Championships during the 80s. My match with him was sort of comparable to wrestling a grizzly bear, except less competitive. This was during the 1974 High School Nationals. > > \*\* Small world. I helped train Tommy Martin ('76 and '80 Olympian), who used to do battle with the Cohens all the time. Well, in truth, Tommy used to kick my ass all over the dojo. Lemme tell ya…I threw him for ippon once, and paid for it for years! As a kid, I lost on two separate occasions at the Jr. Nationals to a future Olympic silver medalist, Bob Berland, who coincidentally, was trained by Steve and Irwin Cohen. I’ve also competed against Steve Seck in local tournaments while I lived in LA. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/45 "2000-09-21T03:51:04Z")
Oh, yeah…I’ve been on several teams with Brett Barron ('84 - Los Angeles), and was coached at a few Jr. Nationals by Willy Cahill, one of the ancillary US Judo coaches. I’ve met Yasuhiro Yamashita, multiple world judo champion and Olympic judo champion (LA - 84), too…when we shook hands, it looked like I was holding a leg of lamb…that SOB had HUGE hands. At the same time, I met another former world and Olympic champion, who was the coach of the Japanese National Team at the time. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/46 "2000-10-01T03:00:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamar Mundane \* > \*\*I was a senior on the baseball team in college with a freshman named Mark Hamilton. He had a girlfreind , who I remember as a pixie, all skin and bones. She could run, though. Her name was Suzy Favor. She’s a favorite in the 1500 meters in Sydney. And BTW, she’s grown up. > > Man, has she grown up. > > [http://www.source.co.uk/users/grazza/Hamilton.htm](http://www.source.co.uk/users/grazza/Hamilton.htm) \*\* And unfortunately, she just collapsed on the last lap of the Women’s 1500 meter run. ---
**Author:** ![nebuli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@nebuli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebuli)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/47 "2000-10-01T05:12:17Z")
Sam Perkins, who was on the goldmedal-winning 1984 USA baskeball team, went to high school with my sister. I played in a few pickup games against him. Also, I used to work with George Tucker, who one Olympiad was **the** Puerto Rican Winter Olympic team, as a luger. My brother used to compete in high school shot and discus against Jeff Blatnick, who later won Greco-Roman wrestling gold in the 1984 games. And my dad used to work with Ray Barbuti who won the gold in the 400 meters at the 1928 games. ---
**Author:** ![honkytonkwillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@honkytonkwillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkytonkwillie)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/48 "2000-10-01T09:21:10Z")
I can think of 2 right now, there’s others for sure. The father of a high school buddy, Gustav Hanson, is a nordic skier and won a silver medal for Sweden. I’m guessing sometime in the fifties or early sixties. He imports and sells sports equipment. The other is another nordic skier, Bill Spencer has been to several Olympics Games. I worked with him one summer at an engineering firm. But it took me three weeks to figure out where I knew his name from. I finally asked him why his name sounded so familiar… He’s a civil engineer now. And I asked him once if he puts “Olympic Athlete” on his resume when seeking jobs. He does. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/49 "2000-10-01T10:56:31Z")
Rusty Kanokogi was my self-defense teacher in college. She coached the women’s judo team in Seoul in 1988. Though she didn’t say brag at all about her achievements, I learned later that she is a pioneer in women’s judo. She organized the first Women’s Judo World Championships in 1980, and now is in the WSF Hall of Fame. Also took an Olympics class with a professor who was a fencer for the US Team. Her name escapes me at this time. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/50 "2000-10-01T19:04:34Z")
Stephanie Cook, who won a gold medal for the UK in the modern pentathalon over the weekend, attends my wife’s church. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551/51 "2000-10-01T20:09:53Z")
The newspaper I work at covers a lot of Stanford sports, and since Stanford sent a billion people to the Olympics, I’ve interviewed more than a couple Olympians. So maybe this doesn’t qualify as “knowing” them, but I’ve exchanged a few words with them, and that’s still sorta cool. Lessee … I’ve talked to Logan Tom and Kerri Walsh from the volleyball team, Derek Bouchard-Hall and Nicole Freedman from the cycling team, Julie Foudy from the soccer team, Anne Kremer in tennis and Jenny Thompson in swimming. Freedman was probably the most interesting story. In order to cut down on expenses so she could devote more time to her Olympic training, she moved into a van parked in her friends’ driveway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-an-olympian/33551.md?page=2)