Transferable, much? These talented sports stars have gold medal-worthy STEM skills
We’re so excited whenever the Olympics come around and we love to cheer on the awesome Australian athletes doing their best to bring home ALL the gold medals.
We also love it when we find out our favourite Olympians are also STEM students or professionals. Below, we’ve hunted down five athletes with medal-worthy CVs, plus given a shout out to some amazing STEM students who are juggling degrees and Olympic performances!
1. Torrie Lewis, track and field athlete + cyber security student
Torrie Lewis is Australia’s fastest ever woman – she ran an Australian record of 11.10 for the 100 metres earlier this year! She’s will compete in the 200m and 4x100m relay in Paris and is also studying a Bachelor of Cyber Security at Griffith University!
2. Sinead Diver, marathon runner and senior analyst engineer
In quite possibly one of the coolest bits of athlete trivia ever, Australian marathon runner Sinead Diver is also a senior analyst engineer at the National Australia Bank (NAB).
She’s no stranger to the Olympics either, having competed in the Tokyo 2020 Games. This Olympics, she’s competing in the Women’s Marathon, along with Aussies Genevieve Gregson, Jessica Stenson.
“I love running, but also my current role at NAB,” said Sinead in a statement. “The flexible hours have made everything more manageable and I’m very lucky to work with a highly skilled & supportive team.”
3. Flynn Ogilvie, Hockey player and student sonographer
This STEM + sports star has a degree in exercise science from the University of Wollongong and a Graduate Diploma of Medical Sonography through University of South Australia.
When he’s not playing hockey for Australia (or facing off against other international teams at the Olympics!), Flynn is a student sonographer at SKG Radiology in Perth.
4. Michelle Jenneke, hurdler and mechatronics graduate
If being an elite hurdler and one of the four captains of the Australian Athletics Team for the Paris Olympics wasn’t enough, Michelle also studied mechatronics (a mix of mechanical and electric engineering) at the University of Sydney. She’s definitely one to watch these Olympics as she just recorded a personal best a few weeks ago!
5. Elena Galiabovitch, shooter and physician
Amazing Elena is a physician in Melbourne, who’s also studying a master’s degree to become a urological surgeon!
Paris is her third Olympic Games, and she’ll be competing in the Women’s 25m Pistol and 10m Air Pistol events.
Fun fact: She was one of the six athletes chosen to carry the Olympic Flag at the Tokyo Opening Ceremony because of her work as a frontline worker during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And a big shout out to some incredible STEM students also competing at this year’s Olympics!
- Abby Andrews / Water Polo / Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (University of Queensland)
- Elizabeth Dekkers / Swimming / Bachelor of Science (University of Queensland)
- Lidiia Iakovleva / Rhythmic Gymnastics / Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Griffith University)
- Lachlan Kennedy / 4x100m Relay / Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) + Commerce (University of Queensland)
- Putu Anastasia Kusmawan / Artistic Swimming / Bachelor of Science (University of Melbourne)
- Connor Murphy / Triple Jump / Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Biomedical Engineering) + Neuroscience (University of Sydney)
- Cassiel Rousseau / Diving / Bachelor of Psychological Science (Griffith University)
- Clare Wheeler / Football / Master of Environment (Griffith University)
- Alice Williams / Water Polo / Bachelor of Biomedical Science (QUT)
STEM + Olympic Games careers
Want to work at an Olympic Games one day? Get into one of these STEM gigs!
- Audio engineer
- Biomechanics coach
- Biomedical engineer
- Broadcast technologist
- Data analyst
- Exercise scientist
- Nutritionist
- Safety engineer
- Sports engineer
- Sports psychologist
- Sports statistician
- Team doctor
RELATED:
