Kentucky's Olympians

Muhammad Ali

The winners of the 1960 Olympic medals for light heavyweight boxing on the winners' podium at Rome: Cassius Clay (now Muhammad Ali) (C), gold; Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland (R), silver; and Giulio Saraudi (Italy) and Anthony Madigan (Australia), joint bronze. Image credit:(Photo by Central Press/Getty Images) 05/09/1960

Though they are from different decades, Muhammad Ali and Anthony Davis made their mark on the Summer Olympic games. 

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, hailed from Louisville, KY, and he won the gold medal for light heavyweight boxing at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. He returned to the Olympics in 1996 as the torch bearer that lit the Olympic cauldron. 

Anthony Davis

Image credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images Europe; July 28, 2012

Anthony Davis, a native of Chicago, IL, played basketball for the University of Kentucky. Davis made history with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as the first number one and number two draft picks to come from the same school. Davis went on to play for the gold-medal winning U.S. Men's Basketball team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. 

Passion Richardson

Image credit: Getty Images

Passion Richardson, a track star at the University of Kentucky, was a member of the 4x100 relay team that won the bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She won other honors, including third place in the SEC and a World University Games gold medal. 

These are just a few of the Olympians who have Kentucky connections. Others Kentucky Olympians include: former men's basketball coach Tubby Smith and former men's basketball player Tayshaun Prince.

__________________________________

Sources: 

Ali, M. (2004). What I Know Now. People, 61(14), 90.

Barker, B. (2012, June 29). Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist of Kentucky make history as top two picks. Newsday, (Melville, NY).

Huffman, F., ed. (2006), Clark's Kentucky Almanac. Lexington, KY: The Clark Group

USA Track & Field. (21 February 2001). Passion Richardson. Retrieved from: http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/TrackAndFieldArchive/2001/Richardson_Passion.asp