By Tim Clinton
Numerous area personalities have left their mark in sports as Olympic athletes.
They include Michelle Akers, who grew up in Shoreline and played soccer at Shorecrest High School before going to the University of Central Florida. She starred for the 1991 and 1999 United States World Cup and 1996 Olympic championship teams.
She was named the FIFA Female Player of the Century in 2002 along with China's Sun Wen and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004.
Federal Way speedskater Apollo Ohno raced to gold medals in the 1,500-meter short track race at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City and in the 500 four years later in Turin.
Ohno also snagged two silver medals and four bronze medals in his career to become the most decorated United States Winter Olympics athlete ever.
Then there's his eight golds, seven silvers and six bronze medals won at world championships, plus one gold and one bronze in world team championships.
Matt "Deadeye" Dryke from Sequim bagged Olympic gold in skeet shooting at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and also competed in Seoul in 1988 and in Barcelona in 1992.
The current operator of Sunnydell Shooting Grounds in Sequim added two world championships, setting a new world record in 1986.
Roslyn Summers from Edmonds won a silver medal in figure skating at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo behind East Germany's Katerina Witt, and took gold at the 1983 world championships in Helsinki and at the world junior championships in 1980.
Then there's the Mahre twins, Phil and Steve, from White Pass. Phil took gold and Steve the silver racing in the men's Alpine Skiing Slalom in Sarajevo in 1984.
Phil also won silver in that event at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid and raced on the World Cup circuit to nine golds, seven silvers and 11 bronzes in Slalom for his career. He added 11 golds, one silver and four bronzes in Combined and seven golds, 13 silvers and six bronzes in the Giant Slalom.
Steve captured six Slalom World Cup gold medals, three silvers and five bronzes. He raced to two gold medals and one bronze in the Giant Slalom and to one gold, two silvers and one bronze in Combined.
Much more recently at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, Seattle native Nevin Harrison won gold in 200-meter women's sprint canoe. She nabbed a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics and took gold at the world championships in 2019 and 2022.
Nathan Adrian of Bremerton is a five-time Olympic gold medalist who competed in swimming at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 competitions. He added one silver and two bronze medals.
Adrian raced to gold on the 4X100-meter freestyle relay team in 2008 Beijing and at 2012 London he took gold in the 4X100 medley relay and in the 100-meter freestyle individual race. He came back for 2016 Rio de Janeiro and won in the 4X100 freestyle and medley relay races.
He captured a silver in the 4X100 freestyle in London and bronze medals in the individual 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle events at Rio de Janeiro.
Debbie Armstrong from Seattle earned a gold medal in the Giant Slalom in 1984 Sarajevo, and the first Washington gold medalist was Tacoma's Gretchen Kunigk Fraser who won the Slalom at 1948 St. Moritz. She also took the silver there in the Combined.
Seattle native and University of Washington swimmer Jack Medica took gold in the 400-meter freestyle at 1936 Berlin in a then Olympic record time of 4:44.3.
Jordan Chiles of Vancouver is an artistic gymnast who was a member of the team that captured gold in 2024 Paris and she also was on the silver medalist team from 2021 Tokyo.
Seattle native Gail Devers won gold medals in the 100-meter run in 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta and also was on the winning 4X100 relay in Atlanta.
Many other Olympic competitors have hailed from the state, including CJ Allen of Bremerton and Washington State University. Allen broke the American national record for the 400-meter hurdles in 2023.