Reaching the Olympic Games is rarely a simple journey. Yet for some athletes, the journey started on an entirely different playing field.
These 10 Olympians are not competing in the same sports they did in college. Instead, they transitioned into entirely different disciplines on their way to the world's biggest stage.
From basketball players turned speedskaters to track athletes who push bobsleds, each athlete's story highlights adaptability and the willingness to chase a new dream.
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Brittany Bowe, Florida Atlantic
College sport: Basketball
Olympic sport: Speedskating
Shooting for more: Growing up, Brittany Bowe played basketball and competed in inline speedskating. Bowe improved on the court during each of her four years and won Florida Atlantic's Most Outstanding Female Athlete award as a senior in 2010. Off the court, Bowe continued to improve as an inline speedskater as well. By the time she was a senior, she already had competed in world championships and won gold medals.
When the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, began, Bowe watched and imagined herself competing there. She believed her dream could become a reality, sparking her switch from inline to ice speedskating.
After graduation, Bowe moved to Salt Lake City to begin her journey to becoming an Olympian. Read more about Bowe's story here.
Fast facts:
- Is in her fourth and final Olympics.
- Earned bronze medals in both the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Games.
Kelly Curtis, Springfield and Tulane
College sport: Track and field/heptathlon
Olympic sport: Skeleton
Headfirst into the transition: After Kelly Curtis' track teammate, Erin Pac, won a bronze in the bobsled at the 2010 Vancouver Games, her strength and conditioning coach saw similarities between the runners' athleticism and suggested Curtis give the bobsled a shot.
A year after graduating from Springfield, Curtis attended a bobsled combine and did so well she was invited to an Olympic bobsled driving school program. It was there Curtis first saw someone on a skeleton sled. In her first run, Curtis knew that skeleton was for her.
Fast facts:
- Is the first Black athlete to represent Team USA in skeleton (Beijing 2022).
- Competed as a Division III student-athlete at Springfield.
- Takes part in the Air Force World Class Athlete Program.
- Her dad, John, played football at Springfield before playing in the NFL.
Anna Gibson, Washington
College sports: Track and field, cross country
Olympic sport: Ski mountaineering
An uncharted path: Anna Gibson's athletic resume combines an elite college track and cross country career with trail running, Alpine skiing and cross-country skiing. So when her friend Cam Smith suggested partnering in a U.S. mixed relay team for ski mountaineering, the newest Olympic sport, the crossover made sense.
Gibson's experience prepared her for the moment, because they won their first-ever World Cup, qualifying them for the 2026 Olympics.
Fast facts:
- Set an NCAA record in the distance medley relay.
- Named to College Sports Communicators Academic All-America first team.
- Named a 2023 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association second-team All-American in the mile and distance medley relay, both indoors.
Deedra Irwin, Michigan Tech
College sports: Nordic skiing, cross country, track and field
Olympic sport: Biathlon
Rejection to redirection: Deedra Irwin competed in cross country, Nordic skiing, and track and field from 2010-15 at Michigan Tech, a Division II school, before training to become a professional Nordic skier after graduation. Yet after missing the cut for the 2018 Olympics, her friend Joanne Reid, a Team USA biathlete, suggested she come to a biathlon talent identification camp. She made the development team, eventually qualifying for the 2022 Olympics.
Read her full story here.
Fast facts:
- Placed seventh in biathlon at the 2022 Olympics, the best American finish ever.
- Maintained a 3.9 GPA in college while competing in three sports.
- Joined the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program in 2019.
Kaysha Love, UNLV
College sport: Track and field
Olympic sport: Bobsled
Pushing for change: Kaysha Love was invited to push camp by USA Bobsled. Sixteen months later, she competed in the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Hear more about her journey in her own words here.
Fast facts:
- Was a member of the outdoor 4x100-meter relay team that holds the UNLV record.
- Placed seventh in the 2022 Beijing Games in the two-woman bobsled.
- Is the reigning monobob world champion.
- Is competing in the Olympics with fellow UNLV alum Azaria Hill.
- The duo, who secured a silver medal together in the 2025-26 World Cup season opener, will compete in the two-woman bobsled event.
Elana Meyers Taylor, George Washington
College sport: Softball
Olympic sport: Bobsled
From field to five-time Olympian: Elana Meyers Taylor played shortstop and pitcher at George Washington. After college, Meyers Taylor began her bobsled career in 2007, making the national team in her rookie season and starting her transformation into one of the all-time greats in the sport, where she currently has more Olympic medals than any other woman in bobsled.
Fast facts:
- Is a four-time Olympian and five-time Olympic medalist (three silver, two bronze medals).
- Is the most decorated Black Winter Olympian.
- Was George Washington softball's first recruit.
- Set records in nearly every offensive category at George Washington.
Named the Atlantic 10 Softball Student-Athlete of the Year.
- Named a two-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-American.
- Is the first softball alum in the George Washington Hall of Fame, where her No. 24 jersey is retired.
Jadin O'Brien, Notre Dame
College sport: Track and field (pentathlon)
Olympic sport: Bobsled
Tracking on the Olympics: Jadin O'Brien started in bobsled in August 2025 and made the U.S. team for the 2025-26 season as a push athlete. At her International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup debut later that year in Sigulda, Latvia, O'Brien finished fourth in the two-woman bobsled and was named to her first Olympic team for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Fast facts:
- Is a three-time NCAA national champion in indoor pentathlon (2023, 2024, 2025).
- Competed at two U.S. Olympic Team Trials in track and field, finishing fifth in the women's heptathlon at the U.S. national championships in 2025.
- Her father, Kevin, played college football and mother, Leslie, competed in track and field at Bowling Green.
Samantha Smith, Stanford
College sport: Soccer
Olympic sport: Cross-country skiing
Athletic goals: Samantha Smith will compete in her first Olympics after training in both soccer and cross-country skiing her entire life. Smith was promoted to the U.S. Ski Team A Team in 2024-25, becoming one of the youngest American skiers to reach the top tier. In January 2025, after just one week on snow following Stanford's soccer season, Smith won the U.S. national championship in the classic sprint.
Fast facts:
- Is a current sophomore soccer player at Stanford.
- Helped Stanford reach the NCAA tournament championship game at the 2025 Women's College Cup.
- Has an older sister, Logan, who also plays soccer at Stanford.
- Her father was a Duke soccer standout and Academic All-American. Her mother was a Stanford rower and an Ironman 70.3 age-group world champion.
Carsten Vissering, Southern California
College sport: Swimming
Olympic sport: Bobsled
Relaying a new passion: After graduating and ending his swimming career, Carsten Vissering transitioned to bobsled because of his love for strength training. He became intrigued by bobsledders' workout routines.
Vissering eventually was invited to a camp in Lake Placid, New York, where he started to learn the technical aspects of the sport. Although a former member of the national bobsled team told him transitioning from swimming to bobsled would be difficult, Vissering remained undeterred and picked up the sport quickly, making his World Cup debut in 2022. The 2026 Games will be his first Olympics.
Fast facts:
- Helped Southern California win its first NCAA title in the 200-yard medley relay.
- Named a five-time All-American.
- Placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke at the 2019 NCAA Division I championships.
- Was the first Southern California All-American in the 100-yard breaststroke since 2013.
Sarah Warren, Illinois
College sport: Soccer
Olympic sport: Speedskating
Skating to a goal: Sarah Warren will compete in her first Olympics after training in speedskating since age 13. She competed at age 15 in short track at the Youth Winter Olympic Games in 2012, finishing fourth in the 500 meters. She became the U.S. Junior Champion in the 500 before going on to play soccer at Illinois.
Fast facts:
- Received Academic All-Big Ten honors twice.
- Graduated with a degree in bioengineering. Currently pursuing a master's in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins.
Here is a list of other Olympians who competed in a different collegiate sport, listed alphabetically:
- Luci Anderson, New Hampshire: Skiing ? Biathlon.
- Nick Baumgartner, Northern Michigan: Football ? Snowboard.
- Jane Channell, Simon Fraser (Team Canada): Track and field/cross country and softball ? Skeleton.
- Frank Del Duca, University of Maine: Track and field/cross country ? Bobsled.
- Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson, Northwestern (Team Canada): Diving ? Bobsled.
- Austin Florian, Clarkson: Skiing ? Skeleton.
- Margie Freed, Vermont: Skiing ? Biathlon.
- Caleb Furnell, Utah Valley: Track and field/cross country ? Bobsled.
- Azaria Hill, UNLV and Long Beach State: Track and field/cross country ? Bobsled.
- Kris Horn, Massachusetts and UConn: Track and field/cross country ? Bobsled.
- Jasmine Jones, Eastern Michigan: Track and field/cross country ? Bobsled.
- Boone Niederhofer, Texas A&M: Football ? Bobsled.
- Hunter Powell, Baylor, Colorado State and Western Colorado: Track and field/cross country ? Bobsled.
- Joanne Reid, Colorado: Skiing ? Biathlon.
- Bianca Ribi, Dartmouth (Team Canada): Soccer ? Bobsled.
- Mystique Ro, Queens (North Carolina): Track and field/cross country ? Skeleton.
- Paul Schommer, St. Scholastica: Skiing ? Biathlon.
- Skylar Sieben, Arizona (Team Canada): Track and field/cross country ? Bobsled.
- Bryan Sosoo, Monmouth: Track and field/cross country ? Bobsled.
- Josh Williamson, Mercer: Lacrosse ? Bobsled.
