Who is the only person to have won an Olympic gold medal and an Oscar?
Awards shows aren’t the be-all and end-all of an individual’s career.
Indeed, Stanley Kubrick never won an Oscar, a Grammy forever eluded Tupac, and Roger Federer retired without an Olympic gold medal in his trophy cabinet, yet each of these people is regarded as icons in their professional field. It takes a true master to win the highest professional awards and an utter legend to succeed across several vocations.
Such stars in the entertainment industry are dubbed EGOT winners, referring to individuals who have succeeded in each of the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. Honouring people who have mastered TV, music, film and theatre, the feat has only been achieved by a handful of people, with the list including Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Viola Davis, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend and Whoopi Goldberg, among others.
In addition, there have been particularly fascinating individuals who have won both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize, an award given to someone who has “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind” during the previous year, as stated by Alfred Nobel himself.
The only two people who have achieved this extraordinary feat are the musician Bob Dylan and the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, with the former winning a Nobel Prize for having created poetic expressions in American songwriting.
Winning a Nobel Prize and winning an Oscar may feel totally at odds with one another, but neither compares to the achievement of winning a gold medal at the Olympics and winning an Academy Award, a feat achieved only by one iconic American athlete.
So, who was the first?
It was back in 2008 when the American basketball player Kobe Bryant took home his first gold medal, winning at the Beijing Summer Olympics four years before he would replicate the feat in 2012 during the London Games. In 2012, he won gold alongside an iconic team of individuals that included LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Tayshaun Prince.
If his achievements in basketball weren’t enough for Bryant, during the 90th Academy Awards held on March 4th, 2018, the superstar would take home an Oscar for an animated short film he wrote and narrated. Based on the poem of the same name he penned back in 2015,Dear Basketballwas an emotional tribute to his own time in the sport, which ultimately became a touching tribute to the life and legacy of the star who tragically lost his life in 2020.
The Oscar was shared with director Glen Keane, who is best known for his work on multiple Disney animated movies, including 1991’sBeauty and the Beast, 1999’sTarzanand 2010’sTangled.
Speaking about his collaboration with Bryant and his triumph at the Academy Awards, the directorrecalled: “He never expected it…I mean, he should have. But I think the reality of it completely blindsided him. So, I just remember that moment—getting him going and walking up there together—and being so proud that I got to have a part in such an incredible career.”
Take a look at the incredible Oscar-winning short film below.