Fansided

The greatest Olympic athlete from every U.S. state

By Adam Strangis

16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) /
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16th February 1932: Portrait of German bobsledder Werner Zahn presenting the Olympic trophy to American bobsledder William L Fiske, while the rest of the four-man winning American bobsled team looks on, at the Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York. Eddie Eagan is just to the right of Fiske. (Photo by New York Times Co./Getty Images)
16th February 1932: Portrait of German bobsledder Werner Zahn presenting the Olympic trophy to American bobsledder William L Fiske, while the rest of the four-man winning American bobsled team looks on, at the Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York. Eddie Eagan is just to the right of Fiske. (Photo by New York Times Co./Getty Images) /

Colorado: Eddie Eagan

Sport: Boxing and Bobsled

Olympics: Antwerp 1920, Paris 1924, and Lake Placid 1932

Unless someone out there has a job as an Olympic historian, the name of Eddie Eagan probably won’t ring any bells. Not only did he compete in his first Olympics close to 100 years ago, he competed in two events that Americans don’t always have a strong connection to. With the exception of marquee events, boxing fell by the wayside in the American consciousness a long time ago and it’s not exactly like many young kids can watch a bobsled run on TV and go out in the backyard and try it. Eagan is one of the few people who can claim that they’ve participated in both Summer and Winter Games but he is the lone man to make an even more impressive claim.

Eagan is the only person to ever win a gold medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics in different events. A Swedish figure skater named Gillis Grafström also won medals in Summer and Winter Games, but he medaled in the same event. (There was a period when figure skating was part of the Summer Olympics.) As far as Eagan goes, he went to the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp and won the gold in the light heavyweight division. He also boxed in the 1924 Olympics but was defeated in the first round.

He made his return to the Olympics eight years later and that’s where he would make history. Eagan was part of the United States Bobsled team that took home the gold medal in Lake Placid. It’s rarified air to be called an Olympian but Eddie Eagan holds a distinction even above that.

Honorable Mention: Amy Van Dyken, swimming in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000

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