For Rainey Valmon, being a widely-recognized athlete never defined her. A two-time NCAA champion and two-time Olympian, she was a star in the classroom as well as the track. After graduating cum laude from Harvard University in 1990, she earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, a program which rewards the Association’s most accomplished student-athletes.
She embarked upon a professional career, becoming a mainstay near the top of the world track rankings through the 1990s. Her fastest 800-meter run (1:57.04) has been eclipsed by just three Americans [Jearl Miles Clark, Mary Slaney and Kim Gallagher].
After retiring and starting a family with husband Andrew Valmon, himself an Olympic Gold medalist, she served as the Vice President for the Chesapeake Region 2012 Coalition, a not-for-profit organization formed to bring the 2012 Olympics to the Baltimore-Washington region, a bid which would eventually go to London. The mother of three, Rainey Valmon remains passionate about the value of athletics as a component of a comprehensive education.
Noted philosopher