With the 2008 Olympic Games less than two weeks away the world is getting ready to celebrate the possibility of international unity through the meeting of the best athletes from across the globe. The cover story of the July 27th issue of the Washington Post Magazine highlights nine former Olympians who spoke on the the life-long impact of Olympic competition.
Two of the featured athletes, Charles Jenkins and Lacey O'Neal, kept striving for international cooperation long after representing the United States in the Olympics by working for the Peace Corps. Jenkins,a gold medalist in both the 400 meters and 4x400 meter track relay at the 1956 games in Melbourne, joined the Peace Corps after representing the United States Olympic team on a goodwill tour conducting clinics and coaching national teams across Asia. O'Neal, a member of the US track team at both the 1964 Tokyo games and 1972 Munich games, later worked as a country director in the Gambia in the late 1980's.
Click here to learn more about Jenkins's and O'Neal's Olympic memories and the way the experience influenced their continuing desire to work for global peace.
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