This year’s summer Olympic Games are well underway in Paris, and there's a number of athletes from the Philly area on Team USA. (Side note: NBC10 is tracking medalists from our region!)
They’re all part of a long history of great athletes with Philly ties competing in the Olympics. Here’s a (very nonexhaustive) look at some notable people who’ve earned wins for our country — and city.
🏃 Alvin Christian Kraenzlein
Originally from the Midwest, Kraenzlein took home four gold medals from the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris while he was a dental student at Penn. The track-and-field athlete did things differently than his peers — he cleared hurdles by gliding over them with his leading leg extended, which has since become standard technique.
🚣 John B. “Jack” Kelly — Jr. and Sr.
Not one, but two local Kellys have made their mark on Olympic history. Jack Sr. — a bricklayer from Philly who was father to Jack Jr. and Princess Grace — earned a total of three gold medals in rowing between the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp and the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Jack Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps and also became an Olympic rower, bringing home a bronze medal from the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. He later became president of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1985, but he died just a few weeks after his election.
Here’s some Philly trivia: Kelly Drive is named for Jack Jr., and you can find a sculpture of Jack Sr. right near the Schuylkill Regatta finish line.
🥊 Joe Frazier
This famous, Golden Glove-winning boxer who moved to Philly as a teenager took home the heavyweight gold at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Frazier went on to win the “Fight of the Century” in 1971 against Muhammed Ali. His North Philly boxing gym — which at one time was open to the public, including to kids who couldn’t afford membership dues — has since been designated as a historic site.
⛸️ Tara Lipinski
This Philly-born Olympian became the youngest female figure skater to win a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano — she was 15 years and 255 days old.
🏀 Dawn Staley
Staley, a North Philly native and current head coach of the University of South Carolina’s women’s basketball team, led the USA Basketball Women’s National Team to a gold-medal victory at the Tokyo Games in 2021. But before her coaching days, the basketball GOAT represented the United States at three other Olympics Games, and her team won gold each time: 1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney, and 2004 in Athens.
