#6: Tara Cunningham: Heavyweight Weightlifter
The 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney was the first time women’s weightlifting was featured as a sport. Tara Cunningham made a smashing debut that year, winning a Gold medal in the 48-kilo division. She set a record by lifting more than twice her own body weight and becoming the first-ever female weightlifting champion in the Olympic Games.
She went on to participate in the 2004 Games, and is the only athlete to have trained for three different sports for the Olympics. She trained for soccer and gymnastics, but weightlifting is where she truly excels. Cunningham’s accomplishments have raised visibility for women’s weightlifting. In 2015, she was inducted into the International Weightlifting Hall of Fame.