Sports
Sheila Taormina
born 1969 · swimmer, triathlete, modern pentathlete
Livonia-born athlete who is the only woman ever to qualify for the Olympics in three different sports, beginning with an Olympic swimming gold medal in 1996.
- Born
Livonia, Michigan
age 57- Birth name
- Sheila Christine Taormina
- Detroit years
- 1969–1980s
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Taormina was born and raised in Livonia, a western Detroit suburb, where she swam and ran track at Livonia Stevenson High School before an unlikely late-blooming path to elite sport. She won gold as part of the U.S. 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, then reinvented herself as a triathlete, competing at the 2000 and 2004 Games, before switching again to modern pentathlon and qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. On June 1, 2008, she became the first woman in history to qualify for the Olympics in three separate sports. She was inducted into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
Highlights
- Born and raised in Livonia; swam and ran track at Livonia Stevenson High School
- Gold medalist, 4x200-meter freestyle relay, 1996 Atlanta Olympics
- First woman to qualify for the Olympics in three different sports (2008)
- Inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, 2015
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1980s
Livonia Stevenson High School
Where she swam and ran track before her international career.