Nancy Hogshead-Makar: Women’s sports, Title IX, Penn State and beyond

Nancy Hogshead-Makar at the 1984 Olympic Trials (Ptoto provided)

Twenty-eight years ago my sister and I got our first glimpse of the Summer ymympics. We saw ABCs coverage of the womens 100 meter freestyle final, an event the United States was expected to win gold. Carrie Steinseifer of Redwood City, California had a clear lead with meters to go and touched the wall first or at least it looked like it.

Just seconds later, a woman appeared out of nowhere on the television screen. She screamed, We tied! We tied! That woman was Steinseifers teammate, Nancy Hogshead-Makar of Jacksonville, Florida. The two swimmers had identical times and were both awarded gold medals. Couldnt get any better than that. It was that event that inspired my sister and I to try swimming as a sport. Im still at it... [via The Starting Five]