Top female Olympians from Duke University
DURHAM, N.C. (BVM) – One of the most prestigious colleges in the nation, Duke University has had no shortage of successful athletes. The university sent 15 athletes to the 2020 Tokyo Games and has amassed 23 Olympic medals in school history. With this hefty list, let’s take a look at the Blue Devils’ top four female Olympians of all-time.
4. Rebecca Ward – 2008 Olympics
Ward began her college career at Duke as the nation’s top-ranked women’s senior sabre fencer. She took that momentum with her into the 2008 Beijing Olympics and earned two medals in the Games her freshman year. Ward entered the individual competition in Beijing as the No. 2 seed and won the bronze medals in both the individual and team sabre events. The following year, Ward won the women’s NCAA national individual sabre title. She continued this trend in 2011 and 2012 to become the first three-time individual sabre winner in NCAA history. Through these monstrous defeats, Ward graduated in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and energy technologies and is now a legislative advisor for the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs.
3. Abby Johnston McGrath – 2016 Olympics
A decorated college career launched McGrath to two Olympic appearances and one silver medal. The diver earned her silver at the 2012 London Games in the synchronized 3-meter and was 12th in her individual 3-meter in the 2016 Rio Games. At Duke, McGrath was a seven-time national champion, a four-time World Cup team member and a World University Games team member. She also won the 2011 NCAA Championships on the 3-meter, which made her Duke’s first-ever NCAA champion. This was after McGrath became the first Blue Devil diver to qualify for the NCAAs in 2009. McGrath accomplished this while she worked through Duke’s medical program and is now in her third and final year of residency as an emergency room resident at Duke Hospital.
2. Nancy Hogshead-Makar – 1984 Olympics
CEO of Champion Women and a civil rights lawyer, Hogshead-Makar has four Olympic medals and 35 awards and accolades to her name. She was the recipient of Duke’s first swimming scholarship in 1981 due to her 1980 Olympic qualification in the 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley as a senior in high school. Her Olympic debut would not come until four years later due to the American-led boycott of the Moscow Games. Despite this delay, Hogshead-Makar was the most decorated athlete in the 1984 Summer Olympics after earning three gold and one silver medal. Her time at Duke was glittered with an array of school records and an undefeated report card which led to 12 Hall of Fame inductions and the title of Florida’s 13th greatest athlete overall of the 20th Century. With an impressive swimming career came an even more meaningful law career. Hogshead-Makar interned at the Women’s Sports Foundation in 1985 after graduating Duke the year prior. The foundation had a strong influence on her career path and led her to founding Champion Women, a non-profit organization that provides legal help to girls and women in sports.
1. Ibtihaj Muhammad – 2007 Olympics
One of Duke’s most influential alumni in history, Ibtihaj Muhammad is used to moving mountains. Her 2016 Olympic bronze medal in fencing made her the first Muslim-American woman to win an Olympic medal and the first woman to represent the United States at the Olympic games wearing a hijab. These outstanding feats helped propel Muhammad to be named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World that same year. In the year that followed, Mattel unveiled the first hijab-wearing Barbie in honor of Muhammad, while Nike named her the face of their first ever Prohijab. Muhammed ran with her amounting notoriety and released her first book in 2018, a memoir “Proud, My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream.” She followed with a release of a picture book the following year, titled “The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family” which landed her on the New York Times Best Seller list of 2019. Through all of this, Muhammad was member of the USA Fencing Team from 2010-17, a five-time world medalist in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 and a two-time national champion in 2009 and 2017. She was also crowned the 2014 world champion on Team Sabre and collected 19 World Cup medals through her fencing career. Muhammad has unofficially retired from the sport, but there are no doubts her influence on will continue to be seen for decades to come.
