Andre Agassi first drew attention to the sport of tennis for his “image is everything” style. He quickly rose to the ranks as a young athlete, but his skills had tremendously improved in 1995 under the tutelage of his new coach Brad Gilbert. This is the year he would first become ranked no.1 in the world.
Many regard him as the best serve returner in the history of tennis. His best performances have been fueled by his rivalry with Pete Sampras, as they were considered the best players of their generation- Sampras being the greatest server, in contrast to Agassi’s superb returner skills. He retired in 2003 and has been married to Steffi Graf since 2001.
Peggy Fleming
Peggy Fleming’s love for figure skating began when her father took her and her sisters out to skate. She mastered basic skating skills by the age of nine. After the US figure skating team tragically passed in 1961 while on their way to compete at the World Figure Skating Championships, she changed coaches.
Having her own skating style, Fleming easily caught people’s attention. This helped her capture 3 world titles, and with more training, she was able to grab a gold medal during the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble. This was the only gold medal won by the US, however, it manifested their gradual return to dominance in figure skating. She’s been a sports commentator for more than two decades, covering the Winter Olympic Games, and the sport she has dedicated most of her life to.
Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristi Yamaguchi started to figure skate at a very young age. She earned her first international gold medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games when she was only nineteen. She moved to Edmonton to train while taking up Psychology at the University of Alberta.
Yamaguchi’s first Olympic gold medal came during the 1992 Winter Olympics. By that time she was already a world champion, and she won another gold in 1992 in Oakland. She’s now an author of children’s books, and occasionally she appears on NBC as a skating analyst.
Sir Steve Redgrave
Sir Steve Redgrave was a master of the sweep rowing discipline, and as an athlete, he was as consistent and hard-working as he could possibly be. His record is a testament to his efforts, which makes it doubly impressive considering he had suffered from a medical condition for most of his career.
Regardless of the sport, he is considered the fourth most decorated among British Olympians. He's competed in five Olympics and won gold medals every time. He is the greatest rower in Olympic history, and in 2011 he was given the “Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award” by BBC.
Dominique Dawes
Dominique Dawes dazzled the world audience when she became the first black person to clinch a gold medal in the Olympics in gymnastics. She had been a member of the US national team for a decade, and she eventually became the first black woman to have won an individual Olympic medal (artistic gymnastics).
Known as “Awesome Dawesome,” she was a member of the extremely talented group “Magnificent Seven,” which had brought home the first-ever gold medal in the team event at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She is employed by the US government as a sports adviser.