Whatever Happened To Summer Sanders?
U.S. swimmer Summer Sanders took the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain by storm, winning two gold medals, a silver, and a bronze. She retired from competition in 1993 and went on to make a splash in other arenas, including television and philanthropy. Let's catch up on the post-Olympic life of this swimming sensation.
She started a family
Sanders wed fellow Olympic swimmer Mark Henderson in 1997, but the pair split up in 2001. She found love again several years later, marrying Olympic skier Erik Schlopy in 2005. According to Runner's World, the pair moved to Park City, Utah so he could continue competing on the slopes. They have two kids: daughter Skye Bella born in 2006 and son Robert Charles Spider born in 2008. (Their son is named after alpine legend Spider Sabich.) Speaking to the Examiner in 2010, Sanders said, "My number-one priority is being a mom and a wife and sort of running my own little Fortune 500 company, which I call my household."
She was fired by Donald Trump
In 2010, Sanders returned to competition as a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice. However, her tenure in the boardroom was short-lived. She was fired by host Donald Trump after eight weeks. It seemed that her laid-back attitude during high-pressure situations may have contributed to her dismissal. "I'm a lover not a fighter," she told the Examiner after getting the boot. "I just don't do well in those fighting situations."
She's the hostess with the mostess
Since hanging up her bathing suit, Sanders has built a successful television career as a host. According to IMDb and AdWeek, she co-hosted NBA Inside Stuff with Ahmad Rashad from 1997 to 2005, Skating with Celebrities in 2006, and the HLN Keywords game show in 2015. She also worked as an NBC special correspondent for the 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2010 Olympic Games, and served as a Today show special contributor from 2000 to 2004. Sanders joined Yahoo's editorial team for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
She's a Right to Play ambassador
Sanders is an ambassador for Right to Play, an organization that teaches kids how to overcome adversity through sports. "Why I love Right to Play is very simple," she said in a promotional video. "I got so much from sports. I learned so much about how to be a good person, an outstanding person, teamwork, dealing with failure, dealing with success, and having so much fun."
She traded goggles for running shoes
After retiring from competitive swimming in 1993, Sanders picked running as her new sport. According to Runner's World, she completed two New York City Marathons, the Chicago Marathon, and the Boston Marathon. "I love running because I can feel myself sweat, which was such a novel, amazing feeling I didn't get in the pool," she said. "Plus, I can talk. I used to chat with my teammates during kicking sets, and my coach would get mad and tell me I wasn't working hard enough."
She's the queen of slime
Though Sanders has been a television fixture for numerous programs, '90s kids remember her best as the beloved host of Nickelodeon's game show Figure It Out. From 1997 to 2000, Sanders was the undisputed queen of slime! In 2016, she revealed some slimy secrets about the show to MTV. "They kept [the slime] refrigerated," Sanders said. "Half of the reaction from the panelists was the fact they were getting slimed, but the other half was that it was so freezing that it would just shock you." Though the green goop looked gross, it was made of vanilla pudding and green food coloring.