Karol Kennedy

Karol Kennedy partnered her brother, Peter, in two Olympics. They finished sixth at St. Moritz in 1948 but improved to the silver medal at Oslo four years later. In 1950 they became the first Americans to win the World Pairs Championship. The sixth place finish at St. Moritz was perhaps Karol Kennedy’s most amazing feat. She was having severe back pains, radiating down a leg and causing some loss of control over the muscles in that leg. It required disc surgery later in the year and doctors wondered in amazement how she could have even walked, much less skated in the Olympics. Peter Kennedy once joked that his sister’s goal in life was to be married and have six children. She succeeded at that goal.