MySportsResults.com – News – Connecticut at the Summer Olympics – Part 2

By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp

MySportsResults continues our look back at some of the greatest athletes in the history of track and field who attended high school in Connecticut or have their roots in our state. Check out the number of “Nutmeggers” who have gone on to compete at the pinnacle of the sport – The Summer Olympics from 1960 to the Present.

Check out our previous article at: Connecticut at the Summer Olympics – Part 1 

1960 – Present

Bill Toomey was 12 years old when an accident severed a nerve in his right hand, and he would need five surgeries over the next few years just to regain about 75 percent functionality. By using the power of positive thinking, he never let that stop him as he led New Canaan to several Class championships in high school competing in the relays, broad jump, high jump, javelin and pole vault. He used those talents to win five AAU decathlon titles in the 1960s and the ultimate gold medal at the ’68 Mexico City Games where he set the world records in decathlon and pentathlon.

Danbury cross country and track coach Dan O’Grady, whom the O’Grady Relays is named after, was in the middle of his career when he was chosen to be an Olympic Observer to the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. An observer is invited by the International Olympic Committee and provides a “behind the scenes” look at the day-to-day operational demands of hosting the Games. The program allows each future Organizing Committee to not only witness how things are done, but also study specific areas so that they can learn and improve upon them for future Olympics. O’Grady built a reputation while coaching at LaSalle Academy in Rhode Island where he won 10 New England titles between 1943 and 1950. He continued his success at Danbury where he compiled a record of 206-46 in track and 311-56 in cross country that included a 1960 State Open cross country championship.

The Montreal Olympics in 1976 had a strong Connecticut contingent. Caitlyn Jenner (formerly known as Bruce) transferred to Newtown High School from New York and made an immediate impact winning the high jump and pole vault at the 1968 State Open. Flash forward eight years and Jenner earned the title of “World’s Greatest Athlete” winning the decathlon in a new world record of 8,618 points and earning an iconic spot on the Wheaties cereal box.

One of the greatest marathoners of all-time, Bill Rogers, got his start at Newington High where he…