The 2024 Summer Olympics returns at the end of the month. Of course, because of our Beaver State’s renown as a state that produces stellar athletes across many different sports, plenty of Oregonians will be competing for the Stars and Stripes. We thought it was as good of a time as any to honor local athletes, from both the past, and some that you’ll see aiming for gold in Paris.
These are the Top 6 Summer Olympics Athletes From Oregon:
Dick Fosbury — Track and Field
Fosbury revolutionized the high jump with his innovative “Fosbury Flop” technique. The innovative backward style is still used today.
When Fosbury competed at Oregon State University, his coach discouraged the unorthodox method. After trying to maintain the conventional jumping form, Fosbury quickly reverted back to his backward flop. Fortunately, Fosbury’s timing was impeccable; competitions began replacing sand with padded mats as the landing surface.
Fosbury won a gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics using this method, which is now the standard in high jump competitions. In 1993, he was elected to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
Fosbury passed away last year at the age of 76.
Ashton Eaton — Track and Field
Often hailed as the greatest decathlete of all time, Eaton’s incredible career includes two Olympic gold medals, at both the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. To date, he is the only decathlete to break the 9,000-point mark twice and holds the world record for the indoor heptathlon.
Born and raised in Portland, Eaton originally competed for the Oregon Track Club Elite team in Eugene. After graduating high school, he enrolled at the University of Oregon, becoming a five-time NCAA champion.
Eaton and his wife, Canada Olympian and former University of Oregon teammate Brianne Theisen-Eaton, currently reside in Eugene with their son.
Mariel Zagunis — Fencing
A fencer from Beaverton, Zagunis was the first American ever to win an Olympic gold medal in women’s saber—not just once, but twice. She achieved the feat at the 2004 Athens Olympics and repeated her gold medal performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She is a five-time Olympian through 2021 and brought home a bronze medal in the Rio Games.
A five-time world champion, she served as Team USA flag bearer in the 2012 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations.
Currently, she is passing her skillset onto the next generation, mentoring first-time Olympian Magda Skarbonkiewicz at the Oregon Fencing Alliance.
Ryan Crouser — Shot Put
He is arguably the GOAT of the shot put. He is also a Portland native. Raised in Boring, Crouser attended Sam Barlow in Gresham, setting the national record as a sophomore in discus throwing.
Attending the University of Texas, Crouser won four national championships on his way to his first Olympic games in 2016, where he triumphed with his first gold medal; he also earned the honor as the first American man to win the event since 2004.
After winning two straight gold medals, Crouser qualified for the Paris Olympics after finishing first in the shot put finals at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. If he wins, he will become the first man ever to win three gold medals in the sport.
Steve Prefontaine — Track and Field
Hayward Field In Eugene Oregon, where Prefontaine ran in college.
At some point in their lives, every runner that you know has had a poster of Steve Prefontaine hanging on their dorm room wall. Although he never won an Olympic medal, Pre remains one of the most important figures in American running, holding every American record in races between the 2,000 and 10,000 meters. He also spearheaded the running boom of the 1970s.
After finishing fourth in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Pre became the first athlete to sign with Nike and helped grow the popularity of the brand.
Tragically, a year before the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where he was considered a heavy favorite in the 5,000-meter race, he perished in a car accident on the windy Skyline Boulevard. He was only 24 years old.
Kevin Love — Basketball
Although born in Santa Monica, basketball power forward and center Kevin Love grew up in Lake Oswego and competed in high school for the Lake Oswego Lakers.
Fresh off triumphing in the 2010 World Championship, Love was one of only five players from the team that returned to the 2012 Olympics team.
On a roster short of big men, Love thrived. In eight games with Team USA, Kevin Love averaged 11.6 points and 7.6 rebounds on a remarkable 81% two-point percentage, ranking first throughout the Olympic games in both offensive rebounds and total rebounds and third overall in true shooting percentage. With Love in the fold in a team of superstars, Team USA defended the gold medal won by the 2008 team.
The Americans went undefeated (8-0) and averaged 116 points per game; their average margin of 32.1 points is the fifth highest in US Olympic history.
From track and field to the hardwood, and every sport in between, there is an abundance of athletic Oregonians making their nation proud! Tune in on July 26th and cheer on your red, white, and blue competitors!
