In comparing the Olympics to the World Series of Poker, I didn\’t plan to write about this, but Justin Shronk asks: \”Have any Olympians ever played in the WSOP?\” I stayed awake about an hour last night doing some research (discovering three Olympian/WSOP competitors), and did some follow-up research today after Kevin Mathers added Charles Barkley to the list.
I now have a list of six Olympian/WSOP competitors, but I don\’t think I\’ve found them all. So I\’m asking for your help.
QUALIFYING CRITERIA: I\’m restricting the WSOP to bracelet events only; charity events don\’t count (like the media event or Ante Up For Africa), but restricted bracelet events do count (ladies, seniors, casino employees). We\’ll also include the WSOP Europe. For the Olympians, they had to actually compete in a medal event (no alternates, and no exhibition events). Preliminary rounds (like swimming or track prelims) do count. The Winter Olympics also qualify, but I have yet to find any winter athletes who have played in the WSOP.
In alphabetical order, the following six players have competed in both the Olympics and the World Series of Poker:
Charles Barkley
1992 Olympics (Barcelona) – Gold Medal in Basketball (USA)
1996 Olympics (Atlanta) – Gold Medal in Basketball (USA)
2006 WSOP Main Event
Tomas Brolin
1992 Olympics (Barcelona) – Football/Soccer (Sweden)
2007 WSOP Main Event
Jeff Fenech
1984 Olympics (Los Angeles) – Boxing (Australia)
2008 WSOP Main Event
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
2000 Olympics (Sydney) – Gold Medal in Tennis (Russia)
2005 WSOP – $1,500 Seven Card Stud (9th: $10,745)
2005 WSOP – $1,500 No-Limit Hold\’em Shootout (14th: $7,535)
2005 WSOP – $2,500 No-Limit Hold\’em (76th: $3,645)
Lennox Lewis
1984 Olympics (Los Angeles) – Boxing (Canada)
2006-2007 WSOP Main Event
Antonio Tarver
1996 Olympics (Atlanta) – Bronze Medal in Boxing (USA)
2006-2007 WSOP Main Event
If you have any information on other potential Olympian/WSOP competitors, please list them in the comments. I\’ll add all confirmed entries to this post.
As you can see, Yevgeny Kafelnikov is the only Olympian to cash in a WSOP event, and just missed a final table (stud final tables only include eight players). Combined with his gold medal in tennis, he has come the closest to winning in both the Olympics and the WSOP.
Here are players who have already been researched, but came up short:
Jan Sorensen
12 WSOP cashes, 3 final tables, 2 bracelets
Played for Denmark\’s National Football Team (1977-1980), but no Olympics
Boris Becker
Member of Team PokerStars, but has yet to play in a WSOP event
1992 Olympics (Barcelona) – Gold Medal in Tennis (Germany)
