Yale University
Location: New Haven, Conn.
Nickname: Bulldogs

A theme in Yale's Olympic history seems to be repetition. Twenty-one Elis have been to the Olympic games more than once. William Steinkraus epitomizes this more than any other Yale Olympian. The Westport, Conn. native competed in the 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 Games on the United States Equestrian team. He was a part of the jumping team that won a bronze medal in 1952, silver medal in 1960, and silver medal in 1972. Steinkraus won an individual jumping gold medal in 1968, becoming the first American rider to win an individual gold medal.

If Steinkraus is noted for going to the most Olympics, Don Schollander '68 has to be mentioned for winning the most medals. Schollander, a swimmer, won four gold medals at the 1964 Tokyo Games (100-meter, 400-meter freestyle, 4x100-meter freestyle relay, 4x200-meter freestyle relay) and three gold medals and silver at the 1968 Mexico City games (200-meter freestyle, 4x100-meter freestyle relay, 4x200-meter freestyle relay, and 4x100-meter medley relay). Schollander was the first swimmer in Olympic history to win four gold medals in the same Games. Over the course of his swimming career (he retired in 1968), Schollander broke many Olympic and world records, often doing so multiple times by breaking his own mark.

A predecessor of Schollander, Edward Eagan '21, also holds some Olympic notoriety. A lightweight boxer for the United States, Eagan won gold at the 1920 Antwerp Games. He would return to the Olympics in the 1924 Paris Games as a boxer. Eagan then made the switch to winter sports and won a gold medal as part of the U.S. four-man bobsled at the 1932 Lake Placid games.

Yet another prominent Olympian from Yale is Frank Shorter '69. Shorter won the marathon for the United States at the 1972 Munich Games, after the disaster in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists. He followed up with a second-place finish in the 1976 Montreal Games. After his Olympic career, Shorter has been in the public eye as an Olympic commentator. He also has served as chairman of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

More recently, Yale athletes have seen success in women's rowing. Anne Warner '77 rowed for the United States in an 8-oared shell in the 1976 Games, along with International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz, a graduate of Penn's Law School. Both DeFrantz and Warner were to compete in the 1980 Moscow Games which the United States boycotted.