WOW. The Stories Of These 11 Olympians Need To Be Shared!

5. Jesse Owens

The four-time Olympic gold medalist overcame extreme adversity and both racial and physical obstacles to compete at a high level with athletes from around the world. Owens was a sickly child from a small town in Alabama who was determined despite ethnic bias to become the fastest man in the world. At the Berlin Olympic Games, which Hitler hoped to use as propaganda for his ideals, Owens sped into history as the gold medal winner of the 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100m relay and the overall most successful athlete at the 1936 Olympics.

6. Tamika Catchings

A professional basketball player for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, Tamika Catchings overcame bullying and teasing in her childhood before her rise to stardom. She is deaf and had a speech impairment, but focused on improving her game and proving her bullies wrong. She became one of the top 15 players of the WNBA, a five-time WNBA All Star, President of the WNBA Players Association, and played in both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics in which the US team took home the gold medals.