Julie Nichols is a world champion rower, having represented the USA in rowing competitions for nine years in 12 different countries. She participated on the USA rowing team during the 2012 Olympics in London, England. A runner in high school, she first tried rowing in college and “stroked the Varsity 8,” meaning she led an 8-person boat to victory and won a bronze medal in the National Collegiate Athletic Association rowing competitions. In 2005 she won a silver medal at the World Championships, and in 2011, she won the overall World Cup title and was honored with the US Rowing Female Athlete of the Year. In her post-rowing career, Nichols earned a PhD from UCLA in Mechanical Engineering and currently works at a tech company where she integrates her sports and engineering expertise.

Bonnie Blair is an elite athlete and trailblazing speed skater who participated in four winter Olympic competitions. Born in 1964 in Cornwall, New York, her family moved to Champaign, Ill., where she began skating at just four years old. She continued to train throughout her childhood in the Midwest, participating in local, state and national speed skating competitions (including the International Skating Union World Cup), where she invariably showed great promise, racking up many titles and wins. Encouraged by her family and her coaches, she trained for and was accepted to the women’s Olympic skating team in 1994 at Sarajevo, where she made her Olympic debut. Although she failed to medal that year, she went on to participate in the Olympics in 1988, 1992 and 1994. She set multiple world records in the 500-meter race, and over the course of her competition career became the first American woman to win five Olympic gold medals and the first American Winter Olympian to win six medals altogether. Blair’s success at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics resulted in her being ranked among the most decorated American Olympians of all time. Among many other accolades and awards, in 1994 Blair was selected by the Associated Press as Female Athlete of the Year and named Sportswoman of the year by Sports Illustrated. Married with two children, Blairs’ post-Olympic career has included work as a motivational speaker and corporate spokesperson, and she is involved with a variety of philanthropic endeavors.