Meet the Dual-Sport Olympians: Medaling in Both Summer and Winter Games

Just a handful of people in history have reached the podium in both the Winter and Summer Olympics, including three Americans. Here are their stories.

WASHINGTON — While making the Olympics is an incredible feat on its own, there are only a few dozen athletes in history who have had the honor of competing at both the Summer and Winter Games.

That exclusive club, as of July 2021, included just around 128 people, according to Olympics.com.

Of these athletes, only six in the modern Olympics have made it onto the podium at both the Summer and Winter Games. There is a seventh, but they competed in the same sport.

Eddie Eagan (USA – Boxing and Bobsled)

American Eddie Eagan won a gold medal in boxing at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp and just weeks before the 1932 Winter Olympics was asked to be on the U.S. four-man bobsleigh team.

Eagan and the U.S. team won gold, making him the only person in Olympics history to win gold at both the Summer and Winter Games in different sports.

Jacob Thams (Norway – Ski Jump and Yachting)

Jacob Thams was the first-ever Olympic ski jump champion at the first Olympic Winter Games. In 1936 at the Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal as part of the Norwegian crew in the 8 meter yachting event.

Norwegian ski jumper Jacob Tullin Thams and friend pic.twitter.com/rxrUJHK26o

Christa Luding-Rothenburger (Germany, German Democratic Republic – Speed Skating and Cycling)

Christa Luding-Rothenburger holds the distinction of being the only person in history to have won medals in both the Olympic Winter and Summer Games in the same year.

Luding-Rothenburger won her first gold medal in speed skating at the Sarajevo 1984 Games. She added two more speed skating medals to her resume at the Calgary Winter Olympics in Feb. 1988.

Just seven months later, she won a silver medal at the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics in cycling. Luding-Rothenburger earned another speed skating medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics.

The last Summer and Winter Olympics held in the same year were in 1992, so Luding-Rothenburger will likely remain the only person in history to complete that impressive feat of medals at different Games in the same year.

Clara Hughes (Canada – Cycling and Speed Skating)

Canadian Clara Hughes won bronze in the cycling road race and time trial competitions at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Later, she pivoted to speed skating and won a bronze medal at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics.

She was just the fourth athlete in history to win medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics. Hughes went on at the Turin Winter Olympics to win gold in speed skating for the 5,000 meters and a silver in Team Pursuit.

Hughes picked up another bronze medal in the 5,000 meters at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She completed her Olympic career at the 2012 London Summer Olympics where she competed in cycling again but did not podium.

Lauryn Williams (USA – Track and Field and Bobsled)

Lauryn Williams became the first American female athlete to win medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. She won silver in the 100-meter dash at the Athens 2004 Games and gold in the 4×100 meter relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

After suffering a leg injury, Williams transitioned to bobsled and won a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics with Elana Meyers in the two-woman bobsled.

Eddy Alvarez (USA – Speed Skating and Baseball)

American Eddy Alvarez is the most recent addition to this prestigious list. During the Sochi Winter Olympics, Alvarez helped his team win silver in the 5,000 meter relay final.

In the Tokyo Summer Olympics, Alvarez played on the U.S. men’s baseball team and won silver.

Eddy Alvarez: 2X Olympic silver medalist (Speed skating, baseball) Nailed a clubhouse sprint pic.twitter.com/LROMAPQH5c

Gillis Grafstrom (Sweden – Figure Skating)

Sweden’s Gillis Grafstrom has earned the most Olympic medals of any figure skater in history. He did win a medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympics because figure skating was part of the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.

He went on to win his second figure skating gold medal at the first Winter Games in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Grastrom earned his third gold in 1928 and a silver at the 1932 Lake Placid Games.