Cullen Jones is an athlete that has decided to help others. He was part of the gold-medal winning 4×100m freestyle relay team that won gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. While Michael Phelps may have overshadowed Jones (and every other swimmer during that Olympics), Jones is one of those individuals that has become an inspiration not because he can swim, but because he chooses to serve.

Cullen Jones wasn’t always an excellent swimmer. He nearly drowned when he was five. He has used his status as a world-class swimmer to start the Make a Splash foundation, which teaches African-American children how to swim.

70 percent of African-American children either can’t swim or can only swim very little. I’m not sure why this is, but I do remember that in boot camp, there were quite a few of my African-American shipmates in my boot camp company that had to go to swimming lessons. Perhaps they have very little access to water; maybe they have less money for things like swimming lessons. Whatever the reason, I’m glad that we have one Olympic athlete that is taking time to help others.

In a world where there are so many people who reach a certain level and use their fame and popularity for themselves, it’s nice to see someone take some time out for others.

Oksana’s parents separated when she was a baby. Her mother lived with her grandparents, and it could have been a happy story. Unfortunately, her grandmother died. Then her grandfather died. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, her mother died at age 13. Although her mother had remarried, her stepfather didn’t feel any responsibility for her, and she had to fend for herself.

At times, she would sleep with friends; other times, she slept at the ice rink. Her coach helped her out. Then he left for a job in Canada, but suggested that Galina Zmievskaya coach her. Zmievskaya heard her story, and not only decided to coach her, she decided to support her. Oksana was able to stay at her house.

Not only did she have a place to live, but at age 15, she won the world championship, becoming the youngest winner since Sonja Henie won in 1927.

At the Olympics, Baiul was second behind Kerrigan after the technical program. The following day during practice, she collided with another skater, Tanja Szewczenko, and had to have three stitches on her right shin. She came back the following night and eked out a win over Kerrigan for the gold.

Later that year, Oksana had to have knee surgery; she started skating before her doctors advised, and her skating ability was never the same. She later moved to the United States with her adoptive family. She still skates professionally from time to time. Most recently, she skated at the One Step Closer HIV AIDS figure skating exhibition on March 27th of this year.

A news report about her appears below:

If you’re old enough to remember Chernobyl, you’ll remember that it was a major nuclear disaster. Although radiation levels seem to have returned to normal now, they were pretty high after it went off in April 1986. Alexi Salamone was born in June 1987. His development was affected, and he was born with twisted legs that were later amputated.

Salamone was left by his birth parents. He describes the orphanage that he lives in as an “alley”. His birth parents, Joe and Sue Salamone, adopted him at age 6. He has an adoptive sister, Tatiana, that came from the same orphanage.

At age 10, he was introduced to sledge hockey. He looks forward to returning to the country of his birth, but he is unsure of whether he will look up his birth parents. More information about Alexi Salamone can be found in this Yahoo article.

Andy Soule is a bronze-medal winning Paralympic athlete. He won his bronze in the sitting category of the 2×2.4 km pursuit in the biathlon.

Prior to being a Paralympic athlete, he was a warrior in the US Army. In 2005, he was in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb blew up and forced his legs to be amputated. While he once dreamed of being a soldier, he was forced to rethink his identity.

During rehabilitation, he had the chance to try out several sports, including hand cycling. He was asked to try out skiing, and he took to it. After four years of training, he was able to win the Paralympic biathlon world cup. Five years after his accident, he won a bronze medal. Although he could no longer be a soldier, he could be one of the best Paralympic athletes in the world.

Andy Soule is featured in a recent USA Today story.

If you watched the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics, you may remember the torchbearer who arrived in the stadium in a wheelchair, Rick Hansen. I didn’t know anything about him prior to the games, but it turns out, he has a pretty interesting story.

He became a paraplegic at the age of 15 when he ended up getting involved in a car accident. Hansen didn’t let that stop him. He earned a degree from the University of British Columbia, and became a paraplegic athlete, winning three gold medals, two silvers, and a bronze at the Paralympics in 1980 and 1984.

In 1985, he took a trek around the world in a wheelchair, visiting four different continents and travelling 40,000 miles over a period of 26 months. This “Man in Motion” tour raised more than $26 million for spinal cord research, and inspired John Parr’s song “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)”. That song reached number on on the Billboard Hot 100 in September. I remember the song, but I just thought it was a song at the time. Hansen’s journey will be the subject of a new movie, Heart of a Dragon, which is expected to be released later on this year. It looks pretty good:

Heath Calhoun is a member of the Paralympic ski team. The 2010 Vancouver Paralympics will be his first Olympic games.

Calhoun joined the military in 1999, and after completing training, was assigned to the 101st Air Division in Iraq. While deployed, he was in a convoy that was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade. He remembers the explosion, but blacked out shortly afterwards. As a result of the attack, he lost both of his legs below the knees. One of his fellow soldiers was killed in the attack.

Calhoun spent nine months at Walter Reed medical center in rehabilitation. He also became involved in sports. In 2008, he decided to train for the Paralympics.

Heath Calhoun has earned several awards, including Ski Race Magazine’s Role model of the year for 2009, and first place in the Super-G event at the US National Championships.

Heath Calhoun is an inspiration, not only because he was willing to sacrifice his legs for his country, but that he was able to move on from his injury.

I don’t know about you, but the Olympics inspire me to get out and exercise more. No, I don’t think that I’ll ever be able to land a triple Salchow or perform at anywhere near the level of competition that these people do, but I know that I can achieve a higher level of fitness.

The current Olympics has inspired me to take my daughter ice skating… they built a new ice skating rink a few minute’s drive from my house. I’d like it if we could take some beginning lessons, but that could be expensive, and my kids already go to gymnastics.

I also was motivated to do another thing that could help others. So I’ll be walking in the March of Dimes Walk on April 17th. So walking 3.5 miles isn’t exactly an Olympic feat… it’s not really even a difficult feat for me. However, it is a way to get out and get fit, and it is a way to help a good cause. If Hannah Teter can donate all of her snowboarding winnings to help kids in Africa, I can take a day, walk a few miles, and help babies.

I would appreciate it if you would be willing to sponsor me. I’m not a very good salesperson, and I wasn’t sure what goal to set, but the more money that can be raised to help premature babies, the better. My daughter was born four weeks before her due date, which isn’t too early; my cousin’s kids were born even earlier; just recently, these twins were born at two pounds each. Any amount would help.

Or, if you’re interested in walking on your own, you could sign up at March for Babies.

Most people like to see other people overcome tragedy. Perhaps this is why we root for the underdog at times. Perhaps its because we all face difficult situations, and if someone else can overcome difficulties, then maybe we can too.

One of the most powerful stories of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is the story of Joannie Rochette, a figure skater from Canada. Her mother died on Sunday, only two days before she was to skate in her short program. While nobody could blame her if she dropped out, Joannie decided to continue.

On Tuesday night, Joannie skated beautifully; in fact, she skated her way to third place. With tears in her eyes as she left the ice, you couldn’t help but to imagine how she must have felt.

She completed the figure skating competition on Thursday with the free skate, and again, skated wonderfully. She ended up winning the bronze medal.

You can’t help but to admire her. It’s the stuff of what Olympic Visa Commercials are made of.

Canada’s Brian McKeever is one such person. Born with Stargardt’s disease, McKeever has only 10% of his vision, and what he does sees is primarily out of his peripheral vision. Previously, he has competed in the Paralympic Games, where his brother is able to ski with him as a guide.

For 2010, McKeever will be joining the small group of athletes, like swimmer Natalie Du Toit, who have participated in both the Paralympics and able-bodied Olympics. He will be the first athlete to participate in both the Winter Olympics and a Winter Paralympics.

Many of the races that he will be participating in are mass-start events, where he will be able to see other people with his limited peripheral vision. The trick for this Canadian will be trying to stay with the fastest group, and then breaking out for the win at the end.

During the Olympics, you may have heard that Dawson, who took home a bronze medal in the moguls, was adopted from Korea. The fact that his adoption made his Olympic dream possible would have been an interesting enough story. The rest of the story is even more amazing.

The amazing part of the story started in 1981. A man named Kim Jae-su was shopping in a crowded Korean marketplace with his son, Kim Bong-seok. He lost his child. Although he made a valiant effort to find his son, looking through orphanages in the country, he never found him.

It turns out, Kim Bong-seok had been adopted by American parents, and was renamed… Toby Dawson. Friends of Kim Jae-su saw Dawson competing in the Olympics, and thought that there was a resemblance. Since his missing son was about the same age as Dawson, he decided to look into the matter. After the Olympics, many people tried to claim Dawson as their biological son, but DNA tests proved who the real father was.

After the Olympics, Dawson retired from skiing. In 2007, he was able to meet his real father, along with his biological younger brother. You can read more about the family reunion in various news stories.