Olympic medal winners from Long Island
Julia Smit of the United States competes in the Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Heat 2 at the National Aquatics Centre during Day 5 of the Olympics on August 13, 2008 in Beijing, China. Credit: Getty Images
These athletes, who were either born on Long Island or went to high school here (in some cases, both), reached the pinnacle of international competition by winning an Olympic medal. Note: Athletes are listed in alphabetical order.
High school: Malverne
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These athletes, who were either born on Long Island or went to high school here (in some cases, both), reached the pinnacle of international competition by winning an Olympic medal. Note: Athletes are listed in alphabetical order.
Derrick Adkins
High school: Malverne
Sport: Track and field
Olympics: 1996
Best finish: Gold
Derrick Adkins was flawless in Atlanta, winning his heat in the 400-meter hurdles in the first round and semifinals before taking gold in the final. Adkins ran a 47.54 in the final, beating Zambia’s Samuel Matete by .24 seconds.
Raymond Barbuti
From: Lawrence
Sport: Track and field
Olympics: 1928
Best finish: Gold
Barbuti participated in two events in the 1928 Amsterdam Games, taking home gold in both of them. He ran a personal-best 47.8 seconds in the 400-meters, then helped set a world record in the 4x400-meter relay.
Steve Benjamin
Born: Glen Cove
Sport: Sailing
Olympics: 1984
Best finish: Silver
Steve Benjamin and Chris Steinfeld finished second behind the Spanish team of Luis Doreste and Roberto Molina in mixed two-person dinghy in Los Angeles in 1984.
Sue Bird
High school: Syosset
Sport: Basketball
Olympics: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Best finish: Gold
Sue Bird played guard and helped lead Team USA to four straight Olympic golds, going undefeated all four times. Bird attended Syosset High School for two years before transferring to Christ the King in Queens. She was named the College Player of the Year her senior season at UConn, and is an 11-time WNBA All-Star and three-time WNBA champion.
Thomas Bohrer
Born: West Islip
Sport: Rowing
Olympics: 1988, 1992
Best finish: Silver
Thomas Bohrer won silver medals in each of his two Olympic Games in men's coxles fours. East Germany beat the U.S. by 2.42 seconds in the 1988 finals, and the Australian team edged out Bohrer’s team by 1.64 seconds in 1992.
Larry Brown
High school: Long Beach
Sport: Basketball
Olympics: 1964
Best finish: Gold
Brown, who was born in Brooklyn but attended high school in Long Beach, played on the men's basketball team in the 1964 Tokyo Games. A 5-10 point guard, Brown scored 14 points in Team USA's 86-53 win over Brazil in the group stage.
Andrew Capobianco
Hometown: Wantagh
Sport: Diving
Olympics: 2020
Best finish: Silver
Capobianco, who grew up in Wantagh before moving to North Carolina for high school, won silver in men's synchronized springboard diving at the Tokyo Games. Capobianco was the first seventh-grader to win the Nassau County high school diving title.
Miles Chamley-Watson
Long Island connection: Graduated from The Knox School in St. James
Sport: Fencing
Olympics: 2016
Best finish: Bronze
Chamley-Watson was born and raised in London until age 8, when he moved to Manhattan and attended the Knox School. He won bronze in the men's team foil at the 2016 Rio Games alongside, from left, Race Imboden, Alexander Massialas, and Gerek Meinhardt.
Tad Coffin
Born: Brookville
Sport: Equestrian
Olympics: 1976
Best finish: Gold
In Montreal, Coffin, then 21, won gold in both the individual and team Mixed Three-Day Event. He was the first American to win individual gold in the event. Coffin now runs a saddle-making business, called "Tad Coffin Performance Saddles."
Carin Cone
Born: Huntington
Sport: Swimming
Olympics: 1956
Best finish: Silver
Carin Cone finished with the same time as gold medalist Judith Grinham in the final of the women's 100-meter backstroke in 1956. Grinham and Cone swam a 1:12.9, a world record at that point. (After a 20-minute delay, officials wound up ruling Grinham the winner.) In 1984, Cone was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in a class that included fellow LI Olympian Lillian Watson.
Howard Davis Jr.
Born: Glen Cove
Sport: Boxing
Olympics: 1976
Best finish: Gold
A four-time Golden Gloves champion, Davis beat Romania’s Simion Cutov in the lightweight gold-medal bout in Montreal in 1976. In an Olympics that included Sugar Ray Leonard and Michael Spinks, Davis was named the Games’ outstanding boxer. Davis turned pro after the Olympics, and finished his career with a 36-6-1 record.
John Davis
Born: Smithtown
Sport: Weightlifting
Olympics: 1948, 1952
Best finish: Gold
John Davis won a gold medal at 27 years old in London, and then one four years later in Helinski in men’s heavyweight weightlifting. Davis, who set two Olympic records, also set 16 official world records, and another eight unofficial, over his career.
Paul Drayton
Born: Glen Cove
Sport: Track and field
Olympics: 1964
Best finish: Gold
Paul Drayton led off for the United States’ 4x100-meter relay team that set a world record in 1964. Drayton, the oldest member of the team at 25, Gerry Ashworth, Dick Stebbins and superstar Bob Hayes ran a 39.06, three-tenths of a second better than Poland. French runner Jocelyn Delecour had said to Drayton before the race that the U.S. couldn’t win, because all they had was Hayes. After "Bullet" Bob Hayes ran the anchor leg in 8.5 seconds for the win, Drayton famously replied, "All you need is Bob Hayes." Drayton also took home the silver medal in 1964 in the men’s 200-meter, running a time of 20.58.
Crystal Dunn
High school: South Side
Sport: Soccer
Olympics: 2020
Best finish: Bronze
Rockville Centre's Crystal Dunn played on the back line to help Team USA return to the medal podium in women's soccer after losing in the 2016 Rio quarterfinals. Dunn helped the Americans to the bronze medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Sharon Finneran
Born: Rockville Centre
Sport: Swimming
Olympics: 1964
Best finish: Silver
At 18, Sharon Finneran came in second to fellow U.S. swimmer Donna de Varona — who set an Olympic record — in 1964. Finneran swam a 5:24.1 in the 400-meter individual medley final, 8.6 seconds better than her qualifying round time. Finneran set six world records over her career, and in 1985, was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Her brother, Mike, and daughter, Ariel Rittenhouse, also participated in Olympics Games.
Frank Gorman
High school: Bayside
Sport: Diving
Olympics: 1964
Best finish: Silver
Gorman, who was born in Queens Village, took home the silver medal in 3-meter diving in Tokyo in 1964.
Danielle Henderson
High school: Commack
Sport: Softball
Olympics: 2000
Best finish: Gold
Danielle Henderson threw five shutout innings, striking out seven, in the United States’ second game of their 2000 gold-medal run. The U.S. beat Japan, 2-1, to win the gold. Henderson was a three-time All-American at the University of Massachusetts, and finished second on the NCAA’s all-time strikeout list with 1,343.
Sarah Hughes
High school: Great Neck North
Sport: Figure skating
Olympics: 2002
Best finish: Gold
Sarah Hughes’ 2002 gold medal was a come-from-behind victory. In fourth place following the short program, Hughes pulled off a dominating performance in the long program, passing Irina Slutskaya and Michelle Kwan for first. Following the Olympics, she was given the James E. Sullivan Award as the United States’ best amateur athlete. Kwan won the award the year prior. Hughes’ younger sister, Emily, finished seventh in the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Kevin Joyce
From: North Merrick
Sport: Basketball
Olympics: 1972
Best finish: Silver
Kevin Joyce, who graduated from Sacred Heart in 1965, played for the men's basketball team in Munich in 1972. That team fell to Russia in the gold medal game in one of the most controversial finishes in Olympics history; down on the final possession, officials gave the Russians three chances to win the game, with Russia executing on the third opportunity. Joyce also played in the ABA for the Pacers, Sails and Colonels.
Billy Koch
High school: West Babylon
Sport: Baseball
Olympics: 1996
Best finish: Bronze
Former MLB closer Billy Koch appeared in three games for the United States during their bronze-medal run in the 1996 Olympics. He pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing six earned runs, and finished 0-1. It was the first official Olympic baseball medal for Team USA, which won silver in 1984 and gold in 1988 when it was a demonstration sport.
Kelly Kretschman
Born: Smithtown
Sport: Softball
Olympics: 2004, 2008
Best finish: Gold
In the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Kelly Kretschman hit .333 with a home run, five RBI and four runs scored as Team USA won the gold medal. She followed that up with a .348 batting average and silver medal in the 2008 Olympics. She had a home run, six RBI and five runs scored in the Beijing Games.
Mitch Kupchak
High school: Brentwood
Sport: Basketball
Olympics: 1976
Best finish: Gold
An All-American at North Carolina, Kupchak played for Team USA the summer before his rookie season in the NBA. The U.S. went 7-0 in the Games, culminating in a 95-74 win over Yugoslavia. Kupchak scored in double figures four times throughout the Olympics, including a 19-point, 7-rebound game in the United States’ 106-86 win over Italy. The power forward averaged 12.5 points and 5.7 rebounds for the Games. Kupchak went on to play nine seasons in the NBA, averaging 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds. He is now GM of the Charlotte Hornets.
Robert Livingston
Born: Lawrence
Sport: Ice hockey
Olympics: 1932
Best finish: Silver
Robert Livingston made one appearance during the U.S. men’s ice hockey silver-medal run in Lake Placid. The United States finished 4-1-1 in the four-team round robin, tying gold-medal-winning Canada in the final match of the tournament.
Noel Loban
Represented Great Britain
High school: Copiague
Sport: Wrestling
Olympics: 1984, 1988
Best finish: Bronze
Loban, who was born in Great Britain, attended Copiague High School and wrestled for Clemson University. An NCAA champion in 1980, Loban defeated Canada's Clark Davis in the bronze medal match in Los Angeles in 1984.
Devin Logan
From: Baldwin/Oceanside
Sport: Skiing
Olympics: 2014
Best finish: Silver
Logan grew up in Baldwin and Oceanside before moving to Vermont. She scored an 85.40 in the women's slopestyle skiing finals to finish second behind Canada's Dara Howell in Sochi in 2014. She competed in the women's slopestyle and halfpipe in PyeongChang in 2018, finishing 10th and 15th, respectively.
Shannon MacMillan
Born: Syosset
Sport: Soccer
Olympics: 1996, 2000
Best finish: Gold
Shannon MacMillan took home gold in 1996 and silver in 2000 as a member of the women’s national team. MacMillan led the team with three goals on 16 shots in the 1996 games, including a score in the United States’ 2-1 win over China in the gold-medal game. She hit the back of the net once in 2000. She also played for the United States in the World Cup in 1999 and 2003, winning the tournament in 1999, and is in the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
Robert Minton
Born: Lawrence
Sport: Bobsleigh
Olympics: 1932
Best finish: Bronze
With partner Jack Heaton, Robert Minton took home the bronze medal in 1932 in Lake Placid. Racing for the United States’ second team, Minton and Heaton finished with a time of 8:29:15, 13 seconds slower than Switzerland, and 15 seconds slower than the U.S. first team.
John Morgan
Born: Oyster Bay
Sport: Sailing
Olympics: 1952
Best finish: Gold
As the youngest member (21) of the six-man mixed 6 meter team, John Morgan teamed with Emelyn Whiton (36), fellow Long Island native Eric Ridder (34), Everard Endt (59), Herman Whiton (48) and Julian Roosevelt (27) to beat out Norway for gold in Helinski. Morgan is the grandson of J.P. Morgan.
John Michael Plumb
Born: Islip
Sport: Equestrian
Olympics: 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1992
Best finish: Gold
Plumb appeared in eight Olympic Games and medaled six times: two golds, four silvers. He was 20 years old in his first appearance in Rome in 1960, and 52 in his last appearance in Barcelona in 1992. In 2008, Plumb, who holds the U.S. record for most Olympic Games, was the first equestrian athlete inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Plumb’s wife, Donnan, participated in the 1968 Games.
Al Oerter
High school: Sewanhaka
Sport: Track and field
Olympics: 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968
Best finish: Gold
For four straight Olympics, Al Oerter owned the discus throw, the first to win gold in the same field event four straight times. In 2005, along with Greg Buttle, Gene Mayer and Freeman McNeil, Oerter was inducted into the Nassau Sports Hall of Fame.
Eric Ridder
Born: Hewlett
Sport: Sailing
Olympics: 1952
Best finish: Gold
Both Eric Ridder and fellow Long Island native John Morgan were on the mixed 6 meters sailing team that took gold at Helinski. Ridder was a descendant of Herman Ridder, one of the founders of the Knight-Ridder publishing company. Among the papers published by Knight-Ridder were The Miami Herald, the San Jose Mercury News, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram and the Akron Beacon Journal. Knight-Ridder was purchased by The McClatchy Company in 2006.
Bob Samuelson
Born: Port Jefferson
Sport: Volleyball
Olympics: 1992
Best finish: Bronze
Bob Samuelson was the inspiration for the 1992 men’s volleyball team going bald in Barcelona in 1992. Bald at 18 because of a skin condition, Samuelson was called for a penalty in the opening-round game against Japan that cost defending gold medalist Team USA a win. As a show of support, the rest of the United States team shaved their heads. The U.S. proceeded to reel off five straight wins before falling to Brazil in the semifinals. They eventually beat Cuba in the bronze medal game.
Julia Smit
High school: Mt. Sinai
Sport: Swimming
Olympics: 2008
Best finish: Silver
Julia Smit won a pair of medals at Beijing in 2008; silver with the 4x100-meter freestyle team, and bronze with the 4x200-meter freestyle team. Smit was a dominant swimmer at Stanford University.
Jerome Steinert
Born: Hicksville
Sport: Cycling
Olympics: 1912
Best finish: Bronze
Jerome Steinert participated in two events in the 1912 Stockholm Games. He finished 56th in the individual men’s road race, and took bronze in the team event.
Christian Taylor
Born: Uniondale
Sport: Track and field
Olympics: 2012, 2016
Best finish: Gold
After fouls on each of his first two attempts in the triple jump finals, Taylor jumped 56 feet, 3 1/4 inches on his third attempt, then the gold-medal length of 58-5 on his fourth attempt in London in 2012. Taylor defended his Olympic title in Rio with a season-leading mark of 17.86. Taylor was born on Long Island, but attended school in Georgia, and trains in Florida.
Alan Valentine
Born: Glen Cove
Sport: Rugby
Olympics: 1924
Best finish: Gold
A forward, Alan Valentine earned gold with the U.S. men’s rugby team in Paris in 1924. A round-robin pool including France and Romania, the U.S. beat Romania 37-0, and France 17-3 for first. Later on, at just 34, Valentine became the president of the University of Rochester.
Lillian Watson
Born: Mineola
Sport: Swimming
Olympics: 1964, 1968
Best finish: Gold
Lillian "Pokey" Watson participated in three Olympic events in her career, winning all three events. At just 14, Watson won a pair of golds in Tokyo in 1964, including a world-record time (4:03.8) in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Four years later, Watson earned her first individual medal, winning the 200-meter backstroke in 2:29.2, an Olympic record. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1984 with fellow LI native Carin Cone.
Frank Thomas Winter
Born: Bay Shore
Sport: Swimming
Olympics: 1960
Best finish: Gold
Thomas Winter swam in the qualifying round of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay for the United States en route to their gold medal in the 1960 Rome Games. With Winter, the U.S. swam a time of 8:18.0, beating Australia by six seconds, and earning a spot in the final. In the final, without Winter, the U.S. set a world record, 8:10.2, beating Japan by three seconds.