Hi, students! Do you like sports? Do you dream of being a famous athlete? Do you dream of taking it further and becoming a famous Olympic star? Well, you can accomplish all of that and I am going to tell you about 3 women from Massachusetts who did exactly so!
Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Kerrigan is a retired, olympic figure skater, who was very popular in the early 90s and has won two olympic medals in her career. Nancy is from Stoneham, Massachusetts where she began skating in elementary school and she won her first competition at the Boston Opera, at only nine years old! From there, she began skating in local and regional competitions, thus starting her career.
Throughout her high school career, Nancy continued to skate and once she started college, it didn't stop her. She continued working hard and ended up winning the National Collegiate Championships, amongst other competitions, which led her to representing the US in the Winter Games and thus birthing the start of her professional, olympian career.
However, it wasn't as simple as you may think. You may be wondering "where do I know her name from?" Well, Nancy Kerrigan is also mostly famous for her almost career ending incident involving Tonya Harding. Tonya Harding was a another notable US figure skater in the 1990s and according to Harding herself, her team hired someone to ruin Nancy's chances of winning. That "someone" injured Nancy with a hammer and she almost couldn't compete in the competition due to her badly bruised knees. But, she persevered and ended up winning and receiving a ton of recognition and support from the world!
Now, Nancy is retired, raising her family as well as running her self-made Nancy Kerrigan Foundation, for the visually impaired. Sometimes she still picks up her skates.
Megan Duggan
Meghan Duggan is an American ice hockey girl boss, who has won enough medals for an entire team. Meghan was born in Danvers Massachusetts, where she started her athletic career. In high school, she won top female athlete 3 years in a row, and not only played hockey but also, soccer, softball, and lacrosse.
Her hockey career fully started when she attended college, at the University of Wisconsin. She started playing for the Wisconsin Badgers her freshman year and soon ranked as the second best player. Due to her amazing skills on her college team, she soon played internationally, at the Women's World Championship in Canada. Soon after that, she was chosen to play on the US olympic team, where her career officially boomed.
On the US olympic team, she played in both the 2010 and 2014 winter Olympic Games, where she won two silver medals. In 2018, she was chosen the captain the team, where she won a gold medal this time. Meghan then went on represent the country again during the Women's World Championship, where she took home seven gold medals and one silver medal!
Since then, Megan hasn't slowed down. She balances her time now with her husband, coaching young girls, and playing for Boston Pride of The National Women's Hockey League. She also signed a sponsorship deal with Dunkin Donuts, how cool?
Gevvie Stone
Genevra "Geevie" Stone is an American olympic rowing champion from Newton Massachusetts, and one could say "it runs in her blood." Born from two former American Olympic rowing champions, Geevie followed in her parent's footsteps and began rowing in High School. After high school and during her time at Princeton University, her rowing career began to pick up and after she graduated, it rose to some new heights.
After Princeton, she began attending Tufts University of Medicine, where she was also training for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Can you imagine that? Geevie graduated with her M.D and thus went on to play in the 2016 Rio Games, where she won a silver medal.
Now, Geevie is an emergency medicine resident at Beth Israel; a hospital in Boston as well as an athletic ambassador for the foundation Fast & Female, which is all about empowering young girls to further their sports careers.
I hope you all now feel inspired! Below, there is a worksheet, asking you about someone that inspires you! Fill it out and send it back to me.
