As the world gears [has geared] up for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, we look back at some of the stunning women who brought home the gold at the Summer Games in Tokyo.
Olympics Golden Girls
The Olympic Winter Games are set to kick off in China in February — unless COVID-19 throws yet another monkey wrench into the world’s plans. But the U.S. is heading into the competition with high hopes for some of its most decorated female athletes. Snowboarder Chloe Kim is eyeing a second gold medal after winning the women’s snowboard half-pipe in PyeongChang in 2018; two-time Olympic champion alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin is looking to add to her 2014 and 2018 gold medals and cross-country skier Jessie Diggins is favored to secure a top podium spot after snagging gold in the women’s team sprint with Kikkan Randall at PyeongChang.
But before these talented women launch their bid for even more Olympic glory, Penthouse looks back at some of the gorgeous gals who took on the best athletes in the world at the Tokyo Summer Games — and came out on top!
AMBER ENGLISH
Lt. Amber English won the gold medal in women’s skeet and set a new Olympic record of 56 out of 60! The Colorado-born beauty joined the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit in February 2017 and was part of America’s sweep at the 2018 World Championships, where she earned the bronze medal. Amber, 31, stayed on target in Tokyo and bested the reigning champ — Italy’s Diana Bacosi, who took the top spot in Rio in 2016 — to win her first Olympic gold. “It was just a very crazy experience,” says Amber. “I’m very, very humbled by this experience.”
REBECA ANDRADE
Brazil flipped for Rebeca Andrade, who took the gold in vault, and became the country’s first Olympic champion in women’s gymnastics — a day after winning the silver in the women’s all-around final! Rebeca, 22, leapt to the top after scoring an average of 15.083 from two extremely difficult vaults. She overcame excruciating injuries, including two ACL tears, to reign at Tokyo. But her smooth technique, power and charisma launched her into Olympic history. She says of her big win, “It’s a huge pride for me because I saw how much I’ve grown. I’ve matured, and it’s really good. I feel so overwhelmed, happy. I’m feeling incredible.”
VALARIE ALLMAN
Track and field sensation Valarie Allman took an unusual route on her way to Tokyo. Valarie, now 26, once traveled the U.S. as part of “The Pulse on Tour,” a dance program from choreographers for the TV show So You Think You Can Dance? But she traded that stage for one that was worldwide, when she grabbed the gold for the U.S. in the discus throw. However, she says discus and dance have more in common than people realize and explains, “It’s a combination of grace, strength, balance, having an awareness of your body and being able to move it with force.”
KATIE NAGEOTTE
The photo of high-flying Katie Nageotte celebrating her gold medal-winning pole vault performance for the U.S. in midair, after courting disaster with her earlier attempts, is one of the most iconic images from the Summer Games. Katie, 30, began the year with a case of COVID-19, followed by a tight quad muscle. Though she got a dicey start in Tokyo, she finished strong as the only gal able to clear a height of 16 feet,
1 inch. “With pole vault, it’s a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck,” says Katie. “And I’m so grateful that it went my way.”
LEE KIEFER
Fencer Lee Kiefer, 27, became the first U.S. competitor — male or female — to win gold in the Olympic individual foil after defeating Inna Deriglazova of Russia. The Filipino-American cutie accomplished the feat in her third trip to the Games. And even more incredibly, the Kentucky-based athlete trained for her historic win while also attending medical school! Gerek Meinhardt, her hubby of nearly two years, also competed in Tokyo, coming away with a team bronze. But he says, “She made my Olympic dream come true. Being able to see her go out, fight her nerves and come out with the gold medal was something really special.”
ALLYSON FELIX
U.S. track and field legend Allyson Felix, 35, competed in her fifth, and likely last, Olympics — and came away with a career total of seven gold, three silver and one bronze, and calls her experience in Tokyo “special.” The accomplishment gave her more medals than any American in track and field history as she even surpassed the great Carl Lewis. Allyson is the perfect combination of strength, beauty and grit. She bounced back from giving birth to her first child, seemingly shamed Nike into changing their maternity policy for sponsored athletes, launched the lifestyle brand Saysh and has become a prominent voice against gender inequality in sports.
JANJA GARNBRET
Sport climbing came to the Olympics for the first time and saw athletes, male and female, scurrying up walls like supercharged Spider-Men. But Slovenia’s stunner Janja Garnbret, 22, scored the first ever women’s gold in the event. Janja has won a slew of international contests and is considered by many to be the greatest competitive climber of all time. In October 2020, she even scaled the tallest chimney in Europe, alongside fellow climber Domen Škofic. The top of the 360-meter Trbovlje Power Station chimney was enveloped in fog when they began their successful free climb, but Janja still managed to keep her eye on the prize!
EMMA McKEON
Awesome Aussie swimmer Emma McKeon, 27, acquired quite the collection of medals in Tokyo, winning four gold and three bronze. The accomplishment left her tying the record for most medals won by a woman at a single Games, which was set by Soviet gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya in 1952 in Helsinki. The Queen of the Pool is also the most decorated Olympian in her country’s history, with a total of 11 medals, and she even set an Olympic record this year while winning the 50-meter freestyle in 23.81 seconds. “It will take a while to sink in,” Emma admits, “because I’ve been focusing on myself to keep my cool.”
ALIX KLINEMAN & APRIL ROSS
Beach volleyball babes Alix Klineman, 31, and April Ross, 39, are a dynamic duo. Just four years after becoming pro partners, the pair served up gold for the U.S. in Tokyo. Alix and April handily defeated Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy 2-0 (21-15 and 21-16) in the final match, in what Klineman calls a “fairy-tale ending.” Alix adds, “I think sometimes people want to feel confident going into the match and feel like it’s just going to go smoothly. But we kind of went in with the opposite mentality and just having that much respect for that team because they are so good.”
Should you be now inspired to check out Olympic Game Records overall, you will find fairly quickly something called the World Athletics Organization which lists all sorts of records, including Olympic ones. After trying to figure out how it could even be possible that a record from 1968 still stands on the books (Bob Beamon, Long Jump) you might notice — as did we — that none of these records happened in the snow, or even warmer snow — water — or even inside a building. … So we’re thinking this be more of a Track and Field site, but despite these fairly large limitations, it does make it easier to spot and wonder about a single record being there 50+ years. Does Bob Beamon have some celestial assitance that has weighed down long jumpers only at the Olympics? Do long jumpers have some societal disdain for the Olympic interpretation of the event, so they refuse to try hard when competing there? Have rulers changed? … Speaking of that, we’re not going to be talking about the broader implications of the China Olympics going on now, because, y’know, rulers.
