The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
As the Olympics are beginning in Paris, there’s some interesting information that many people may not be aware of even though they may be sports fans.
This is the third time since the modern Olympics began in Athens, Greece in 1896, that Paris will be the host city. The games were also held there in 1900 and 1924.
It is also one of only three cities anywhere in the world to host the games three times. The others being Los Angeles and London.
A total of 206 nations are represented at this year’s Olympics with a total of 10,500 athletes including Payton Otterdahl, a former student from North Dakota State University who will be throwing the shot put.
But in the history of the Olympics, there have been numerous North Dakota athletes who have competed in the Olympics with three of them winning gold medals in their respective competitions.
Ethel Catherwood was born in Hannah, a small community in Cavalier County that is two miles off the international boundary. She was raised and educated in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, excelling in baseball, basketball and track and field.
She later competed in the 1928 games in Amsterdam, winning a gold medal in the high jump for Canada. 1928 was also the first year women were allowed to compete in the Olympic games.
John Bennett of Grand Forks competed in the high jump in the 1956 Olympic games in Melbourne, Australia where he won the silver medal. Bennett was a student at Marquette University where he excelled in track and field, winning two NCAA championships for the Golden Eagles.
On a side note, Bennett’s daughter Claire Lang, became known as the “first lady” of NASCAR radio, hosting a talk show about NASCAR.
Clifton Cushman, also of Grand Forks, competed in the Rome Olympics in 1960, taking home a silver medal for the United States in the 400-meter hurdles. Cushman was a graduate of Grand Forks Central High School, breaking numerous track and field records for the Knights.
Cushman later attended the University of Kansas, helping the Jayhawks win their first NCAA track and field championship.
After the Olympics, Cushman joined the Air Force and became a combat pilot in Vietnam. Tragically, his plane was shot down in North Vietnam and although another pilot saw him eject, his body was never found. He was officially declared dead on Nov. 6, 1975.
As a result, the football stadium in which Central and Red River both compete, is called Cushman Field in his honor.
Virgil Hill who grew up in Grand Forks, is perhaps the best known Olympian from North Dakota. He competed in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, earning a silver medal in boxing.
Hill competed in the middleweight division, defeating four boxers until falling to Shin Joon-Sup of South Korea. It was also in 1984 that he became the National Golden Gloves champion at middleweight.
Hill went on to a very successful professional career, winning 51 of the 58 professional fights in which he participated. Twenty-four of those fights were by knock outs. And in every one of Hill’s fights, he entered the ring waving a North Dakota flag.
In 2012, Hill was officially inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame for the class of 2013. In 2023, Hill became the 48th recipient of the Rough Rider award, North Dakota’s highest commendation for it’s residents.
Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux are also from Grand Forks. They competed for the University of North Dakota women’s hockey team, later going on to appear in three Olympic games, taking home one gold and two silvers.
The twin sisters, on team USA, won silver in 2010 in Vancouver, B.C., silver in 2014 in Sochi, Russia and finally gold in Pyeongchang, North Korea in 2018.
The Lamoureux twins became the fourth and fifth Olympians from North Dakota to claim Grand Forks as home town.
(Marvin Baker is a news writer for the Kenmare News and formerly Foster County Independent.)
