With the 2024 Olympics about to begin, eight former Olympians visited students at Rose Avenue Elementary School in Oxnard on Wednesday, representing a total of three nations, six sports and seven medals.
The bulk of those medals belonged to one of the most successful Olympic divers of all time: one-time silver medalist and four-time gold medalist Greg Louganis.
Jason Richardson, a 110-meter hurdles silver medalist in the 2012 London Olympics, and Tasha Danvers, who won a 400-meter hurdles bronze for Great Britain in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, made up the rest of the tally for the group, which has toured local schools for the last three weeks as part of an Olympic Heroes summer programming planned by Oxnard School District.
The former Olympians answered questions and showed off some of their respective disciplines for a few dozen elementary schoolers on Wednesday morning.
Juan Angulo, a member of the U.S. men's wheelchair basketball team during the 2004 Athens Paralympics, demonstrated his specialized chair. Nia Toliver, who played with the U.S. women's rugby team during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, recruited students from the crowd to learn the basics of a rugby pass and scrum.
Diver Katrina Young, who competed in the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro and in Tokyo, and Louganis, whose Olympic career ended with a pair of golds in Seoul in 1988, popped up into twin handstands.
Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools . You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America .
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Former Olympians, including diver Greg Louganis, visit Oxnard schools to inspire students
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