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Members of Congress who have participated in the Olympics
This page was last updated on July 22, 2021. We encourage you to share updates for this page at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Ballotpedia has identified seven people who participated in at least one Olympics before serving as a member of Congress.
Of those seven, three won gold medals in their events. Bill Bradley (D) won gold as a member of the Olympic basketball team in the 1964 Olympics before becoming a Democratic U.S. Senator for New Jersey. Bob Mathias (R) won his gold medal in the decathlon in both 1948 and 1952, going on to represent California’s 18th Congressional District. Ralph Metcalfe (D), who later represented Illinois' 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House, won gold in the 4 x 100 meter relay in 1936.
These Olympians-turned-politicians represented seven different states—California, Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, and New Jersey. Four of the Congresspeople that participated in the Olympics ran as Democrats, two ran as Republicans, and one (Ben Nighthorse Campbell) ran as a Democrat before later switching to the Republican Party.
Two of these Olympians served in the U.S. Senate, four served in the U.S. House, and one (Ben Nighthorse Campbell) served in both the U.S. Senate and House.
