Stevenson graduate and basketball hall of famer Tamika Catchings won four Olympic gold medals.
AP
As a true sports fan, there’s nothing better than the Olympics.
The first one I remember is 1976 in Montreal, and I was all-in for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. From then on, I was hooked.
So now that we’re nearing the end of the Paris Olympics, this week’s High Five tips a cap to the top area Summer Olympians of all-time.
Another tough list to compile, mainly because we’re trying to go back more than 100 years. As much as Kelsey Robinson, Kevin Cordes, Sean Rooney, Evan Jager and others are worthy, narrowing the list to five means a crowded cutting room floor.
5. Chris Kappler, equestrian
A graduate of St. Charles High School, Kappler won equestrian gold and silver medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
After learning to ride and jump in the area, Kappler went under the wing of famed rider and trainer George Morris, who won a silver medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
A four-time Midwest Rider of the Year, Kappler was named to the 2004 Olympic team and came away with a gold in team jumping and a silver in individual jumping.
Kappler was a selector for the U.S. team in 2016.
4. Harry Chamberlain, equestrian
No one on this list has a more fascinating story than Chamberlain, a 1905 graduate of Elgin High School.
Rising to the rank of brigadier general after more than 30 years in the Army, mostly as a cavalry officer, Chamberlain served in both World War I and World War II. He also played for Army during an epic 6-4 football win over Navy in 1908.
ln between the wars, Chamberlain won gold and silver in equestrian events in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. He also participated in the 1920 Antwerp Games and the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.
Chamberlain finally broke through in 1932. He was part of the team gold medal won by the U.S. and took silver in individual show jumping.
3. John Kinsella, swimming
At 16 — while still a student at Hinsdale Central High School — Kinsella won silver in the 1,500-meter freestyle in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
Then in the 1972 Munich Games, Kinsella was part of the gold-medal winning 800-meter relay team that included Fred Tyler, Steve Genter and an Indiana University teammate of his … a guy named Mark Spitz.
All Spitz did in Munich was win seven gold medals, all in world record time.
Kinsella is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
2. Candace Parker, basketball
Perhaps the greatest women’s basketball player of all time, Parker won two gold medals as part of some of the most dominant teams in the sport’s history.
Parker’s run came at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2012 London Games, in the midst of the United States’ current run of seven straight gold medals. The U.S. outscored its opponents by nearly 38 points a game in 2008 and by 34 points in 2012.
Parker wasn’t selected to the 2016 team and chose not accept an invitation to participate in the training camp leading up to the 2020 Olympics.
1. Tamika Catchings, basketball
No one in the area has come close to Catchings’ success in the Summer Olympics.
The Stevenson graduate and hall-of-famer was part of four U.S. teams that won gold medals. From 2004 to 2016, all she did was win.
Catchings was Olympic teammates with everyone from Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley to Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi.
Catchings retired on top, with a gold medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.