Simone Biles thought she ’d have to choose between her college dream and her gymnastic exercise calling , but an online university made it potential for her to do both . She also started her own learning store to serve other surrogate nestling bring in their degree .
Being an Olympic-level athlete is basically a full-time job. Plenty of them balance acollege educationon top of their training. While pursuing a sports-related degree (like athletic training or sports journalism) seems like a logical next step, many of them pursue a completely new field.
Here are 19 Olympic athletes whose college degrees have nothing to do with sports:
1.American tennis playerSerena Williamsstudiedfashion design at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
2.In 2018,Simone Bilesbeganpursuinga bachelor’s in business administration at the University for the People. Simultaneously, she started the Simone Biles Legacy Scholarship Fund to help foster children and others earn their degrees.
3.American gymnast Stephen Nedoroscikgothis electrical engineering degree from Penn State.
4.British sprinter Dina Asher-Smithearnedher history degree from King’s College London.
5.Burkinabé jumper Hugues Fabrice Zangoearnedhis master’s in engineering and electric Systems and a doctorate in electrical engineering from Artois University.
6.American basketball player Stephen Curryearnedhis bachelor’s in sociology from Davidson College.
7.American fencer Ibtihaj Muhammadearneddual bachelor’s degrees in African and African American studies and international relations from Duke.
8.American figure skater Michelle Kwanhasa bachelor’s in international studies from the University of Denver and a master’s in international relations from theFletcherSchool of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
9.Chinese table tennis player Deng Yapingearnedher bachelor’s from Tsinghua University, a master’s in Contemporary Chinese Studies from the University of Nottingham, and a PhD in land economy from the University of Cambridge.
10.Austrian cyclist Anna Kiesenhoferearnedher bachelor’s in maths and physics from the Vienna University of Technology, her master’s in pure mathematics from the University of Cambridge, and her PhD (where she did her thesis on integrable systems on b-symplectic manifolds) from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
11.American basketball playerShaquille O’Nealhasa doctorate in education from Barry University and a bachelor’s in general studies from Louisiana State University.
12.French skateboarder Charlotte Hymearnedher cognitive neuroscience and psychology doctorate from the University Paris Descartes.
13.American basketball player Michael Jordanhasa coastalgeographydegree from the University of North Carolina.
14.British rower Dame Katherine Grainger DBE CBE has several impressive degrees—a law degree from Edinburgh University, a master’s degree in medical Law and medical ethics from Glasgow University, and a Ph.D. in the sentencing of homicide from King’s College.
15.American soccer player Mia Hammstudiedpolitical science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
16.Chinese basketball player Yao Mingearnedhis economics degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
17.American soccer player Megan Rapinoegother sociology degree from the University of Portland.
18.Canadian gymnast Lise Leveillegother bachelor’s in biomechanical engineering and human biology from Stanford, then earned her medical degree and completed her orthopedics residency at the University of British Columbia. She also earned a PhD in neuroscience from UBC.
19.And finally, American speed skater Eric Heidengothis undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford.
Simone Biles thought she’d have to choose between her college dreams and her gymnastics career, but an online university made it possible for her to do both. She also started her own scholarship fund to help other foster children earn their degrees.
