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Athletes from all over the world compete in the XXIV Olympic Games from February 4 to 22, 2022, in Beijing.

The Olympic Games

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Olympics

<p>These famous Olympians from Iowa have achieved some of the highest honors in sports history just by qualifying for the Olympics. Most athletes will never be chosen to represent their countries so - even if they didn't bring home the medal - these competitors made Iowa proud. Athletes include everyone from Shawn Johnson to Dan Gable.</p><p>This list answers the questions, &quot;Which Olympians are from Iowa?&quot; and &quot;Which Olympians were born in Iowa?&quot;</p>

List of Olympians from Iowa | Olympic Athletes Born Here

Olympic Athletes Born in Iowa

Olympic Athlete

Best Rankings of Sports Teams and Players, Interesting Sports Facts, and Moments in Sports

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Shawn Johnson

Shawn Machel Johnson East (born January 19, 1992) is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Johnson is also a five-time Pan American Games gold medalist, winning the team titles in 2007 and 2011, as well as titles in the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam in 2007.
Johnson became a member of the U.S. senior team in 2007. She had one of the best rookie seasons ever recorded in the history of gymnastics, winning the all-around at the American Cup, Pan American Games, U.S. National Championships, and World Championships all in her first year as a senior gymnast. She is the 2007 individual all-around World Champion, 2007 World Champion on floor exercise, and a member of the 2007 gold medal winning U.S. gymnastics team. As well as being the 2007 U.S. Champion on balance beam and floor exercise, the 2008 U.S. Champion on floor exercise and silver medalist on balance beam, Johnson is a three-time U.S. all-around Champion, winning once as a junior and twice as a senior.
Johnson announced her retirement from gymnastics on June 3, 2012.
In May 2009, Johnson was the winner of season eight of Dancing with the Stars, and in November 2012 she earned second place on the all-star edition.

Born on Jan. 19, 1992 in Des Moines, IA, Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Shawn Johnson began her athletic career at three years old when her parents enrolled her in gymnastics class after finding her jumping and tumbling off of tables. At six, she joined forces with former gymnast and coach Liang Chow, who went on to steer Johnson to Olympic silver at the 2008 games in Beijing. Training less than others her age, Johnson was able to maintain honor roll grades while attending Valley High School in West Des Moines. Meanwhile, she qualified for Junior Elite Status on her first try, then garnered attention in 2005 when she placed third in the junior division at the U.S. Classic. The following year, she won the U.S. Junior National All-Around Championship. In 2007, she made the jump to the senior division, where she won the all-around at the Tyson American Cup. Also that year, she won four gold medals at the Pan American Games, then won the all-around at the U.S. National Championships - a feat she repeated the following year.

Amanda Weir

Amanda Jo Weir (born March 11, 1986) is an American competition swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, world champion, and former world record-holder. She was a member of the 2004 and 2012 United States Olympic teams, winning two silver medals at the 2004 Games and a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Al Feuerbach

Allan "Al" Dean Feuerbach (born January 14, 1948) is a former American track and field athlete. He competed in the shot put at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and finished in fifth and fourth place, respectively. He missed the 1980 Games due to the boycott by the United States. He did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.On May 5, 1973, he broke Randy Matson's seven-year-old world record in the shot put by throwing 21.82 meters (71' 7") at the San Jose Invitational at San Jose State College.  Just weeks later, competing in a different sport, olympic-style weight lifting, he finished second in the heavyweight division at the U.S. weightlifting championships. Feuerbach currently works as a freelance audio technologist.
He was a four time American champion in the shot put, plus he added three indoor championships and a AAA Championships.
In 2016, he was elected into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Ben Askren

Ben Askren (born July 18, 1984), nicknamed "Funky", is an American professional mixed martial artist and former Olympic wrestler. He is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Askren is a former ONE Welterweight Champion and former Bellator Welterweight Champion. As of August 5, 2019, he is #11 in the official UFC welterweight rankings.

Dan Gable

Danny Mack "Dan" Gable (born October 25, 1948) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach.  He is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, a world gold medalist, and an Olympic gold medalist. Gable was only the third wrestler to have ever been inducted into the United World Wrestling's Hall of Fame in the Legend category.

Doug Schwab

Doug Schwab is a male freestyle wrestler and NCAA wrestling coach from USA. He participated in Men's freestyle 66 kg at 2008 Summer Olympics. He lost a match in the 1/16 of final against Andriy Stadnik. In the first consolation round he lost and was eliminated by Sushil Kumar.
He wrestled at the University of Iowa, where he was a three-time All-American and Big Ten Champion. He also won the 1999 NCAA Championship at 141 pounds. He finished his collegiate career with 130 wins, which ranked 10th in school history as of 2012. As a high school wrestler at Osage High School, he won the 1996 2A state championship at 130 pounds.
Following his collegiate career, Schwab served as an assistant coach under Tom Brands at Virginia Tech during the 2005-2006 season. He returned to Iowa as a volunteer assistant coach in 2006-2007. He was promoted to full-time assistant for the Hawkeyes from 2007-2010. On August 1, 2010, Schwab was named the 9th head wrestling coach for the University of Northern Iowa.
In May 2014, Schwab inked a seven-year extension to remain the head wrestling coach of the Panthers.

Frank Irons

Francis "Frank" Cleveland Irons (March 23, 1886 – June 19, 1942) was an American athlete who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the 1912 Summer Olympics.
He was born in Des Moines, Iowa and died in Palatine, Illinois.
Irons competed for the United States in the 1908 Games held in London, Great Britain in the long jump where he won the gold medal. In the standing high jump event he finished eighth and in the triple jump competition he finished 16th. He also participated in the standing long jump contest but his result is unknown.
Four years later he finished ninth in the long jump competition at the 1912 Games. At this Olympics he also competed in the exhibition baseball tournament.

Frank Wykoff

Frank Clifford Wykoff (October 29, 1909 – January 1, 1980) was an American athlete, triple gold medal winner in 4 × 100 m relay at the Olympic Games.

Herman Groman

Herman Charles Groman (August 18, 1882 – July 23, 1954) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres for Yale University and the Chicago Athletic Club. He won a bronze medal in the 400 meters in the 1904 Olympics.
He was a graduate of Yale University and Rush Medical College and later lived in Hammond, Indiana.

Jennifer Barringer

Jennifer Simpson (née Barringer; born August 23, 1986) is an American middle distance runner and steeplechaser. She represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics. She is a former American record holder for the 3000 meters steeplechase. In the 1500 meters, she won a gold medal at the 2011 World Championships, a silver medal at the 2013 and 2017 World Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Jon Koncak

Jon Francis Koncak (born May 17, 1963) is a former American professional basketball player.  A 7'0" center from Southern Methodist University, Koncak was selected with the fifth pick in the 1985 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. Koncak spent ten seasons with the Hawks (1985–1995), mainly in a reserve role, then concluded his career with the Orlando Magic. He retired in 1996 with career totals of 3,520 points and 3,856 rebounds.
Though a reliable defender for much of his career, Koncak is perhaps best remembered for the six-year, US$ 13 million contract he received from the Hawks in 1989 – an unprecedented total for a reserve. Since he was a restricted free agent at the time, the Atlanta Hawks matched this offer from the Detroit Pistons. As a result, he earned the derisive nickname "Jon Contract". This event led NBA Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal to choose a career in basketball over football due to the money he could make in basketball.On February 23, 2008 SMU retired Koncak's jersey. Koncak is an Eagle Scout.

Kenneth Sitzberger

Kenneth Robert "Ken" Sitzberger (February 13, 1945 – January 2, 1984) was an American diver. Competing in the 3 m springboard he won a bronze medal at the 1963 Pan American Games and a gold at the 1964 Olympics. In 1964, Sitzberger was trailing the teammate Frank Gorman after nine of the ten dives, but Gorman performed poorly on his last dive, while Sitzberger was nearly flawless.As a student at Indiana University, Sitzberger won the AAU national indoor 1-meter and 3-meter springboard championships in 1964 and 1965. He was the NCAA champion in the 1-meter from 1965 through 1967, and in the 3-meter springboard in 1966 and 1967.Sitzberger married Jeanne Collier, who won an Olympic silver medal in the springboard in 1964. He worked for more than 16 years as a sports commentator for the American Broadcasting Company until his death at the age of 38. He died of a brain hemorrhage under mysterious circumstances. His wife said that he had fallen and hit his head on a table during a New Year's Eve party, and his death was ruled an accident. Police said Sitzberger twice picked fights with another man at the party, and in the second scuffle he struck his head. Because Sitzberger had been subpoenaed as a federal witness in a cocaine-trafficking case, police investigated his death further, but discovered no evidence of foul play. Ten years after his death, Sitzberger was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Mike Burton

Michael Jay Burton (born July 3, 1947) is an American swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two freestyle distance events.When he was an eighth grader he was hit by a furniture truck while riding a bicycle with a friend. Earlier he loved to play football and basketball, but the injuries due to this accident made him abandon contact sports, and left swimming as one of the few fitness options.Burton graduated from El Camino High School. He won 10 AAU titles, and while at UCLA Burton was a NCCAA champion five times. These included the 500 Free (1970), 1650 Free (1967, 1968, 1970), and 200 Fly (1970), which is also became an All-American for these events. Burton was also a four-time Pac-10 champion, he helped lead the Bruins to the Pac-10 Championship Team Title in 1970. He enter the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame as a Character Member.   At the 1967 University Games in Tokyo, Japan, he won a gold medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle, ahead of Russian Semyon Belits-Geiman.Burton won two gold medals in individual events at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City: the 400-meter freestyle and 1,500-meter freestyle.  Four years later at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, he became the only American ever to repeat as the 1,500-meter freestyle gold medalist, and he also recaptured the world record in the process. While winning gold in the 1972, Burton also set a new World Record in the 1500 Free. Burton's repeat proved a stunning win: in the spring of 1972, Burton had been diagnosed with a vitamin deficiency, and at the U.S. Olympic Trials had barely made the Olympic Team. The Olympic Trials were held in Chicago, Burton failed to make the Olympic team in the 400 freestyle event and the 200 butterflies. On the next to the last day of the Trials, he snuck into the finals of the 1500 when he finished eighth. Burton manager to be able to finish in third to make the team (at the time, a country could enter up to three athletes per event in swimming).At the Munich Games, Burton loved to start out fast and was the early leader even over Australian star Graham Windeatt. Yet, Windeatt fought back and regained the lead. Burton overtook Windeatt on the closing lengths, broke Rick DeMont's world record and won the gold medal for himself and the United States.The celebration in Munich of his historic repeat, however, was overshadowed by Mark Spitz's performance at those Games and by the terrorist attack on the Olympic Village, which occurred the day after his race.
Burton coached the Seahawks in Billings, Montana, at the local YMCA until 2007.  His daughter Loni embarked on her own successful swimming career.  She is one of two swimmers in NCAA history to win twelve individual titles.  She performed the feat in three years as Division II swimmers are eligible to participate in four individual events versus three in Division I and III.He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1977.



Morgan Taylor

Frederick Morgan Taylor (April 17, 1903 – February 16, 1975) was an American hurdler and the first athlete to win three Olympic medals in the 400 m hurdles. He was the flag bearer for the United States at his last Olympics in 1932.In 1924, Taylor won the 400 m Olympic trials with a world best time of 52.6 s, which was accepted as a national record, but not as a world record. While winning the gold medal at the 1924 Olympics he clocked the same time, but knocked one hurdle, and the record was again not ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). In 1925, he won his second AAU title in the 440 yd hurdles in a world best time of 53.8 s, but this record was discounted too. Finally the IAAF accepted his 400 m record of 52.0 s set at the 1928 Olympic trials.
While studying at Grinnell College, Taylor competed in both track and field and football. He won the NCAA 220 yd hurdle title in 1927 and finished second in the long jump in 1925. After graduating he worked as a salesman for the Chicago Tribune and then as a teacher and athletics coach. His son F. Morgan Taylor Jr. also competed in track and field as a long jumper.

Nancy Metcalf

Nancy Jean Metcalf  (born Nancy Jean Meendering on November 12, 1978 in Sioux Center, Iowa) is an American indoor volleyball player. She represented her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, where she finished in fifth place with the USA National Team. She missed the 2008 Olympics with a torn labrum, and was not named to the national team in 2012.

Nat Pendleton

Nathaniel Greene "Nat" Pendleton (August 9, 1895 – October 12, 1967) was an American Olympic wrestler and film actor. His younger brother was Edmund J. Pendleton (1899-1987), the organist and composer.

Natasha Kaiser-Brown

Natasha Kaiser-Brown (born May 14, 1967) is an American sprinter who specialized in the 400 meter run, and is the current University of Missouri- Columbia track and field coach.
Kaiser-Brown was born in Des Moines, Iowa. In high school, she was a nine-time state champion for Des Moines Roosevelt and is the previous record-holder for the 100 meter and sprint medley relay events (both broken in the 2018 track season).At the 1991 Pan American Games she finished fourth in the 400 meter run and won a gold medal in 4 x 400 meter relay. She won a silver medal in the relay at the 1992 Summer Olympics with her teammates Gwen Torrence, Jearl Miles and Rochelle Stevens. In 1993 she won a relay silver medal at the 1993 World Indoor Championships as well as two medals at the 1993 World Championships.  She won the 400 meter event at the 1994 Nationals and was a member of the 1996 USA Olympic team in Atlanta.Her personal best time is 50.17 seconds, achieved in 1993.
She is married to Brian Brown and coached alongside him at Drake University. The pair have a daughter, Elle Brown, who is a basketball player at the University of Missouri.

Sabin Carr

Sabin William Carr (September 4, 1904 in Dubuque, Iowa – September 12, 1983 in Santa Barbara, California) was an American athlete who competed in the men's pole vault.  He competed in Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and won gold.
In 1927, Sabin Carr set new indoor and outdoor world records. In early February he took the indoor record up to 13-7⅛ (4.14), which he improved one week later to 13-9¼ (4.19). In May, at the IC4A outdoor, he became the first man to clear 14 feet (4.27), then in 1928, at the AAU indoor, he vaulted 14-1 (4.29) to become the first to clear 14 feet indoors. In 1928, Carr lost his world outdoor record to the 1924 Olympic champion, Lee Barnes, but at the Olympics, Carr got his revenge – he took the gold medal, with Barnes finishing fifth. Carr, a Yale graduate, had a fine record in major championships, winning the AAU indoor twice, the IC4A outdoor three times, and the IC4A indoor twice. Oddly he never placed better than third at the AAU outdoor meet. Carr eventually went into the lumber business in Oakland, California, and became president of the Sterling Lumber Co.

Lolo Jones

Lori Susan "Lolo" Jones (born August 5, 1982) is an American hurdler and bobsledder who specializes in the 60-meter and 100-meter hurdles. She won three NCAA titles and garnered 11 All-American honors while at Louisiana State University. She won indoor national titles in 2007, 2008, and 2009 in the 60-meter hurdles, with gold medals at the World Indoor Championship in 2008 and 2010.
She was favored to win the 100-meter hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but tripped on the penultimate hurdle, finishing in seventh place. She went on to win gold at the 2008 World Athletics Final, beating the newly-crowned Olympic champion Dawn Harper with a time of 12.56. Jones is the American record holder in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.72.Jones also competes as a brakewoman on the U.S. national bobsled team. She won a gold medal in the mixed team event at the 2013 World Championships. She represented the U.S. at the 2014 Winter Olympics, making her one of the few athletes who has competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Kip Janvrin

Kip Janvrin (born July 8, 1965 in Guthrie Center, Iowa) is an American former decathlete. Janvrin is a native of Panora, Iowa and is now the Co-Head Track & Field Coach at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Randy Wilson

These famous Olympians from Iowa have achieved some of the highest honors in sports history just by qualifying for the Olympics. Most athletes will never be ...