Have you ever wondered what life holds for gold medalists post-Olympics? Do these Olympians go on to join the real world and hold normal jobs? Do they continue practicing the sport that they're best at?
Do they stay in the spotlight, or retire from athletics altogether and binge eat while watching Netflix forever? We've always been curious to see where their enormous accomplishments take them.
Usain Bolt: Track
Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter is famous for being the fastest person ever timed and most recently took home three gold medals at the 2015 World Championships.
Bolt is still competing today, most recently competing in the 2017 World Athletics Championships.
Tara Lipinski: Ice Skating
Tara won the gold in the 1998 Nagano games and went pro later on that year.
Since her win, she has appeared on numerous TV shows, routinely co hosting NBC specials alongside Johnny Weir. She got engaged to TV producer Todd Kapostasy in 2015.
Kristi Yamaguchi: Figure Skating
Yamaguchi is the American figure skater and Olympic gold medalist who took home the gold for single skating in the 1992 Olympics.
Since her Olympic days, she has founded the Always Dream Foundation for disabled youth, winner of 2009′s Dancing with the Stars, author of 4 books, wife and mother, and designer of an active wear brand called Tsuya.
Aly Raisman: Gymnastics
Aly was captain of the US Women’s Gymnastics team called the Fierce Five in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She acquired the gold both for her team and individually.
In 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, she won gold again for the team and also silver for her individual efforts. She recently joined UNICEF Kid Power as a brand ambassador Kid Power Champion. Raisman was a contestant on season 16 of Dancing With the Stars and finished in fourth place with two-time champion Mark Ballas.
Ryan Lochte: Swimming
Ryan Lochte was a 22-year-old psyched to win gold at the 4x200-meter freestyle relay back in 2004 in Athens.
He now is the second-most decorated U.S. men's swimmer in history after adding a gold in the 4x200 relay in Rio that came before he was embroiled in a scandal that got him and three teammates in hot water.
Apolo Ohno: Speed Skating
Apolo has been the considered the face of short track in the United States after winning eight medals (two gold, two silver, four bronze) at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He was an incredibly popular athlete and public figure between 2002 and 2010, but since his informal retirement following the 2010 Winter Olympics, he has sort of fallen off of the map.
Since his time in the Olympics, he has worked a lot in entertainment. In 2013, he appeared as the host of GSN’s reboot of Minute to Win It. Ohno is known as the founder of Allysian Sciences, a motivational speaking platform that helps its users to build their business and community, through use of cognitive training and dietary supplements.
Oscar De La Hoya: Boxing
Oscar De La Hoya beat 20 world champions and won 10 world titles in 6 separate weight classes during his career. He then founded a combat sport promotional firm called 'Golden Boy Promotions'. Recently he has been in some trouble.
In September 2013, just a few days before the Golden Boy promoted match of Floyd Mayweather vs. Saúl Álvarez, De La Hoya announced that he was returning to a drug and alcohol treatment facility thus missing the biggest fight of his young fighter's career. In January 2017, De La Hoya was arrested for driving under the influence in Pasadena, California.
Lisa Leslie: Basketball
Leslie is a four time gold medalist after playing on the USA womens basketball team in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008.
She retired from the WNBA in 2009 and has 2 children with husband Michael Lockwood.
Greg Louganis: Diving
Louganis was diagnosed with HIV shortly before the 1988 games, and later became known for his advocacy in the fight against the disease. He was one of the first well-known athletes to publicly discuss his sexuality.
He also contributes to the Huffington Post, is a prominent LGBT-activist, and was the subject of 2014 documentary Back On Board. He has since been a mentor for the US diving teams in 2012 and 2016
Mark Spitz: Swimming
The American swimmer acquired a prestigious legendary status when he won 7 Olympic gold medals in the medley relay in Munich in 1972.
Spitz is now a motivational speaker so we won't be seeing him at the summer Olympics in Rio.
Mary Lou Retton: Gymnastics
Retton became a member of the President’s Council for Physical Activity in 2006 and is now a fitness ambassador.
As part of her advocacy to improve young people’s body image, she came up with a “zero weight scale,” which doesn’t show your weight, and thus places the emphasis on being healthy, not skinny. Retton is also mother to four daughters, including star college gymnast McKenna Kelly.
Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson won four gold medals in sprinting, most notably at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he became the first man to win both the 200-meter and 400-meter dash.
Johnson says he could beat Usain Bolt in a race if they were both in their prime.
Caitlyn Jenner: Decathalon
Formerly Bruce, Caitlyn won the olympic gold medal when she was living as Bruce. She set a new record for the decathlon. She has six children total, two with each of her three ex wives.
In recent years she has given motivational speeches and eventually rose to reality fame as the husband of Kris Kardashian. In 2015, Jenner came out as transgender and announced her transition, and has since become a prominent advocate for the trans community.
Shawn Johnson: Gymnastics
She began gymnastics when she just three years old. By 2008, she brought home the gold for balance beaming. The following year Forbes concluded that she was “America’s Most-Liked Sports Figure”.
She is now married. She works with young kids, mentoring them. Johnson does alot of public speaking. She is a personal fitness trainer. and a part of a ton of really powerful campaigns that promote body-image.
Misty May-Treanor: Volleyball
Misty and Kerri Walsh Jenings won the gold for beach volleyball in 2004, 2008, and 2012, retiring after the 2012 games. Following the 2008 Olympics, May-Treanor has made numerous minor television appearances, including Dancing with the Stars, episodes of CSI: Miami, Wizards of Waverly Place, and the Late Show with David Letterman.
On August 14, 2012 she appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2014, Misty welcomed her first child with husband Matt Treanor. As of July 2016, she serves as the Director of Volleyball at Long Beach City College where she will also coach the school's women indoor and beach volleyball teams.
Kerri Walsh Jennings: Volleyball
Jennings and Misty May-Treanor won the gold for beach volleyball in 2004, 2008, and 2012. For the World Tour 2016 she played, with partner April Ross, at the Long Beach, California Grand Slam.
In 2017, Walsh-Jennings announced she was not signing a new contract with AVP because of disagreements with the organization. The two ended their partnership. Walsh-Jennings then reteamed with Nicole Branagh, with whom she briefly competed during May-Treanor's 2010 break from beach volleyball. Since her gold medal wins, she has had three children with husband Casey Jennings.
Andre Agassi: Tennis
Tennis legend Andre Agassi is former World No. 1 who was one of the sport's most dominant players from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. In singles tennis, Agassi is an eight-time Grand Slam champion and a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, as well as finishing runner-up in seven other Grand Slam tournaments.
Since retiring after the 2006 US Open, Agassi has participated in a series of charity tournaments and continues his work with his own charity. He is the founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which has raised over $60 million for at-risk children in Southern Nevada. In 2001, the Foundation opened the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a K-12 public charter school for at-risk children. He has been married to fellow tennis player Steffi Graf since 2001.
McKayla Maroney: Gymnastics
Gymnast McKayla Maroney took home a gold medal in 2012 for her vault routine but now she is an aspiring rapper. McKayla was a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team dubbed the Fierce Five at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the team and an individual silver medal in the vault event.
She decided in 2016 to no longer compete in gymnastics due to health issues. Maroney made her acting debut in the CW television series Hart of Dixie in 2012. In summer 2016 Maroney announced that she would be making a singing debut with a single named "Ghost".
Muhammad Ali: Boxing
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., better known to most of us as the infamous Muhammad Ali, won the Olympic gold medal in his boxing division in 1960. After retiring from boxing in 1981, Ali devoted his life to religious and charitable work.
In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome, which his doctors attributed to boxing-related brain injuries. As the condition worsened, Ali made limited public appearances and was cared for by his family until his death on June 3, 2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Michael Phelps: Swimming
Talk about an overachiever when it comes to Olympic sports! Of his gold medals, eight were won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where Phelps broke all the time records. He is the most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals. Phelps retired following the 2012 Olympics, but he made a comeback in April 2014.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, his fifth Olympics, he was voted by his team to be the flag bearer of the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations. He announced his second retirement on August 12, 2016. Phelps is married to former Miss California USA Nicole Johnson. They secretly married on June 13, 2016. Their son, Boomer Robert Phelps, was born on May 5, 2016. The family now lives in Phoenix, where Phelps volunteers alongside Bowman as an assistant coach for the Arizona State Sun Devils swim team.
Mia Hamm: Soccer
Hamm was a key part of the U.S. team for the first ever women's Olympic soccer tournament in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, and helped them take home the gold!
Hamm married baseball player Nomar Garciaparra in 2003 and gave birth to twin girls in 2007. She also penned the novel Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life and appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.
Michelle Kwan: Figure Skating
Kwan is the most-decorated figure skater in U.S. history, so it makes sense that she’d be as ambitious and successful in her post-skating life as well.
Kwan has served as a public diplomacy advocate for the United States since 2006, written an autobiography, made guest appearances on shows like The Simpsons, and, most recently, joined Hillary Clinton’s campaign as a full-time staffer.
Nastia Liukin
Nastia’s parents were both highly qualified gymnasts, and her extensive time in the gym motivated her to pursue gymnastics at age 3. She is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around champion, the 2005 and 2007 world champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 world champion on the uneven bars.
Liukin is now a professional speaker on such subjects as Olympians and women in sports. Liukin has her own line of gymnastics equipment, which includes mats, bars and balance beams in her signature pink, produced by American Athletic, Inc.
Amanda Beard: Swimming
Beard is an American swimmer and seven-time Olympic medalist. The model, vegetarian and animal-rights activist appeared on TODAY in April 2012 and discussed her past struggles with bulimia, drug addiction and depression, which she chronicled in the memoir “In the Water They Can’t See You Cry.”
In late June, she fell short of qualifying to compete in the Summer Olympics in London. She has two children with husband Sacha Brown.
Shaun White
Shaun is widely considered to be the greatest snowboarder in Olympic history. At the 2006 Winter Olympics he won gold in the half-pipe and scored just 3 points under a perfect score.
At the 2010 Games he scored high enough to win the gold without having to do a second run, but decided to run it anyway. This time, he ended up getting just 1.5 points under a perfect score. Preparing for the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang is the focus for White, and the X Games are the best competition he’ll face to do that.
Dominique Dawes: Gymnastics
Dominique Dawes, or as she's known, 'Awesome Dawesome', won numerous Olympics medals over her 10 years on the national team. Afterwards, she was President of the Women's Sports Federation for 2 years.
President Barack Obama appointed Dawes a chair of President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, and she is a co-host for Yahoo! News Weekend Edition. She appeared in Missy Elliott’s “We Run This” video in 2006.
George Forman: Boxing
Widely associated with the compact home grill, George Foreman took up boxing as a kid and ended up becoming a gold medalist at the 1968 Olympics in the boxing/heavyweight division.
He may have a personal grill named after him, but the professional boxer has made other achievements as well. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. During his boxing career, he amassed 76 wins out of 81. Outside of boxing, he went to become an ordained minister, author, and entrepreneur.
Lisa Fernandez: Softball
Fernandez is a three time gold medalist for the USA olympic softball team. She played in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 games. She now has a son with husband Michael Lujan and coaches the softball team at UCLA.
Gabrielle Douglas: Gymnastics
Gabrielle was among the five gymnasts who comprised the Fierce Five at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she contributed to her team’s gold medal achievements. She was the first African American to become the individual all-around champion.
Though she took some time off following London, Douglas did the unheard of by coming back to the 2015 World Championships and earning silver. Recently she has been meeting Barack Obama, talking to Oprah, and appearing on a box of Corn Flakes. She was the subject of a Lifetime movie and starred on a reality show.
Dara Torres: Swimming
Dara is the first Olympic swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games.
She has accumulated 12 medals (four gold) and, at 41, was the oldest swimmer to be placed in an Olympic team. Outside of swimming, she has worked as reporter and announcer for several networks including NBC, ESPN, and Fox, and has had an illustrious career in modeling.
Carl Lewis: Track
Although we won't see Carl Lewis in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio, he took home 9 gold medals in track and field between 1979 and 1997.
Lewis almost ran as a Democrat for a seat in the New Jersey Senate in 2011 after Sports Illustrated named him "Olympian of the Century." He is one of merely three Olympic athletes who won four gold medals in a single event. He tried to run for the New Jersey Senate in 2011 but discovered he was unqualified.
Brandi Chastain: Soccer
US Olympic soccer team member Brandi Chastain saw her team win gold in two games. She is famous for her World Cup sports bra reveal.
Since then she has since worked coaching soccer at Santa Clara University. She made headlines when she announced she will posthumously donate her brain to science. She is now married and has two kids.
Mike Eruzione: Hockey
Mike Eruzione led the U.S. team to victory and a gold medal when they defeated the Soviet Union during the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y.
The game has since been dubbed the “Miracle on Ice”. Eruzione is now the director of athletic development at Boston University and a motivational speaker.
Peggy Fleming: Figure Skating
Probably the most famous American figure skater in Olympic sports history, Peggy Fleming took home the gold in the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France.
Since then she has worked as a commentator on figure skating and is a breast cancer survivor and activist.
Nadia Comaneci: Gymnastics
Nadia Comaneci is the first female gymnast to score a perfect 10 and is the winner of 5 gold Olympic medals, 3 of which she won at age 14 in 1976 at the Montreal Olympics.
Today, she's an author and activist, working with several charitable organizations.
Nancy Kerrigan: Figure Skating
Kerrigan is now 47-years-old and was inducted into the Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2004. She's served as a special correspondent for multiple Olympic events.
Her standout moment of 2017 happened when she competed on 'Dancing With The Stars'. She made it to the seventh round of the season which was quite impressive. Kerrigan has also appeared on other TV shows and movies, written a book, and worked as a motivational speaker, sports commentator, and product endorser.
Gail Devers
Devers won the gold medal in the 100-meter dash in both the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics.
In 2015 Devers released the memoir My Life in a Story: Stronger.
Kerri Strug
Kerri Strug Perhaps the most memorable of the Magnificent Seven, Kerri Strug is remembered for helping win the gold medal by finishing her vault on an injured ankle.
Strug now works for the US Department of Justice and, like all of us, enthusiastically watched and supported the US women’s gymnastics team this Olympics.