Taylor Knibb will follow up her appearance in the time trial with the triathlon. She will join a select group of athletes when she does so
In the early days of the Olympics, competing in multiple sports was far from unusual.
At the loosely organized 1904 Olympics, at which the United States won at least 230 (sources vary due to uncertain citizenship for many competitors) of the 280 medals awarded over nearly five months as a sideshow to the St Louis World’s Fair, Franz Kugler became the only man to win medals in three sports in the same Games – hitting the podium in wrestling, weightlifting and tug of war. In 1908, eight US track and field athletes – including Irish-born hammer-throwing legend Matt McGrath – entered the tug of war competition, only to withdraw in protest over the shoes worn by the Liverpool Police team, who went on to lose to their fellow law-enforcement personnel from London. A lot of events were unofficial “demonstration sports,” such as the 1912 baseball games featuring even more US track and field athletes.
US boxer-turned-bobsledder Eddie Eagan is still the only Olympian to win gold in both Olympics in different disciplines. (Figure skater Gillis Grafström won gold in the Summer and Winter Olympics but in the same event – until the Winter Olympics debuted in 1924, figure skating was held in the summer.)
Norway’s Jacob Tullin Thams had a similarly esoteric combination, winning ski jumping gold and sailing silver.
Cycling and speedskating form a more common combination. Canadian Clara Hughes earned multiple medals in each sport, while East German Christa Luding-Rothenburger will remain the only person to win Winter and Summer medals in the same year, unless the IOC makes a surprising revamp of the Olympic calendar.
Bobsledding is a popular second sport for track and field athletes, but US sprinter Lauryn Williams is the only person with medals in both sports.
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