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Bob Beamon is a former American track and field athlete who won the gold medal for the long jump at the 1968 Olympics. He created a world record in the process of winning the gold medal; the record was broken by Mike Powell almost 23 years later. Beamon was inducted into United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest track and field athletes of all time, Jesse Owens' three world records in less than an hour in 1935 came to be known as the greatest 45 minutes ever in sports. He was credited with destroying Adolf Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy when he won four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Winner of four Olympic golds, three of which came from the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Czech long-distance runner Emil Zatopek came to be known as the Czech Locomotive and The Bouncing Czech for his speed. He lost his Communist Party membership for criticizing the 1968 Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia.
Denise Lewis is a British sports commentator and former athlete. She won the heptathlon gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and became the first European to win Olympic gold in the heptathlon. A two-time Commonwealth Games champion, Lewis also won silver medals in the 1997 and 1999 World Championships. She was also the 1998 European Champion.
Efren Reyes is a Filipino professional pool player who is regarded as the greatest player of all time. Nicknamed The Magician, Reyes is best known for his ability to display numerous trick shots. Efren Reyes has also won more than 100 international titles over the course of his illustrious career. Reyes is a WPA World Eight-ball and Nine-ball champion.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson remains the only man to win both the 200m and the 400m events in the same Olympics. He was the Track & Field News 1996 Athlete of the Year. In 2008, he returned his 2000 Olympic relay medal, as a teammate had taken performance-enhancing drugs.
Anníe Mist Þórisdóttir scripted history as the first female to win the CrossFit Games twice. The former gymnast withdrew from the 2015 CrossFit Games due to heatstroke, but baring that occasion, she has never finished below top 13. She now owns Reebok CrossFit Reykjavik.
Sally Pearson is an Australian former athlete. After winning a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Pearson went on to win Olympic gold in the same event in 2012. A two-time world champion, Sally Pearson also won two gold medals in Commonwealth Games. In 2011, she was named Female Athlete of the Year.
Moroccan former middle-distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj is a four-time 1500m world champion. The UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador became the second athlete to win both the 1500m and 5000m titles in the same Olympics. He won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year thrice and holds many indoor and outdoor records.
The youngest of the Ingebrigtsen runner brothers from Norway, Jakob Ingebrigtsen was 17 when he won both the 1500m and 5000m at the 2018 European Championships. Trained by his award-winning sports coach father, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, he also won a gold in the 1500 m. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
One of Australia’s most well-known track and field athletes, John Steffensen has won more medals for his country than any other male sprinter. Apart from his two gold medals at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, he also has an Olympic silver and a World Championship bronze in his kitty.
Marjorie Jackson-Nelson is a former Australian athlete. She won two Olympic and seven Commonwealth Games Gold Medals. She was appointed the Governor of South Australia in 2001 and held this position until 2007. She was married to Olympic cyclist Peter Nelson who died in 1977. She has been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Retired German luger Georg Hackl scripted history as the world’s sole singles luger with 3 consecutive Olympic gold medal wins. He has also been a 3-time World Champion. Initially a student of metallurgy, he began building his own sleds by the age of 16. He is also known as Hackl-Schorsch or the Speeding Weißwurst.
Birhanu Legese is an Ethiopian athlete who specializes in long-distance running. Currently, he is part of the famous NN Running Team, which is being managed by Global Sports Communication. In 2016, he won the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon. Birhanu Legese won the Tokyo Marathon in 2019 despite cold and rainy conditions. He won again in Tokyo the following year.
