Exceptional Athletes and Nobel Laureates

At EPIC, we are studying exceptional achievement among scientists and athletes and how failure experiences have shaped their path to success. We interviewed Nobel Laureates and exceptional athletes to understand the strategies that they used to benefit from their failure experiences. Unpacking their wisdom and beliefs would inspire students to tackle struggles and setbacks in school and beyond.

Recently, we have interviewed the following great minds:

Exceptional Athletes
Nobel Laureates

Exceptional Athletes

standing in front of a light blue background, tossing up a orange and white basketball

Valerie Ackerman

Basketball, Founding President of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), Former President of USA Basketball, Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Nathan Adrian wearing USA Olympic blue and red jacket smiling and holding up his gold medal

Nathan Adrian

Swimming, Five-Time Olympic Gold Medalist, Ten-Time World Champion in FINA World Aquatics Championships

Shane Battier wearing black, red and white jersey looking upwards and smiling

Shane Battier

Basketball, Two-Time NBA Championships, Member of the U.S. National Team

Simone Biles waring white USA Olympic jacket holding her gold medal in her right hand and yellow flowers in her right hand

Simone Biles

Gymnastics, Five-Time World All-Around Champion, Four-Time Olympics Gold Medalist, Nineteen-Time World Champion in World Championships

Chris Bosh wearing Miami Heat jersey in mid jog

Chris Bosh

Basketball, Two-Time NBA Championships, Olympics Gold Medalist, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Natalie Coughlin wearing red jacket, smiling, holding up her gold medal

Natalie Coughlin

Swimming, Twelve-Time Olympic MedalistThree-Time World Champion in FINA World Aquatics Championships

David Duval holding golf club mid swing

David Duval

Golf, Former No. 1 Golfer in the World, Open Champion

Julie Foudy wearing a red shirt and smiling with a soccer ball tucked under her right arm

Julie Foudy

Soccer, Two-Time FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion, Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist

Colleen Hacker, Ph.D.

Professor in Kinesiology at Pacific Lutheran University, Internationally Recognized Speaker and Consultant in Performance Psychology

Kristen Kjellman wearing lacrosse jersey mid run, holding her lacrosse stick and wearing her lacrosse helmet and white jersey

Kristen Kjellman

Lacrosse, All-time Northwestern Record for Goals and Points, Sportswomen of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation

Steve Mesler

Bobsledder, Olympic Gold Medalist in 2010, World Champion in World Championships in 2009

Adam Oates dressed in hockey uniform skating

Adam Oates

Ice Hockey, NHL Hall of Fame, Named NHL Top 100 Greatest Players of All time

Decathlon Olympic Champion Dan O'Brien holding up American flag behind him

Dan O'Brien

Decathlon, Three-Time World Champion in World Championships, World Champion in World Indoor Championships, Olympic Gold Medalist, World Record (1992-1999)

Nolan Pratt Wearing his back, yellow and white NHL jersey, skating on ice while holding a hockey stick

Nolan Pratt

Ice Hockey, Two-Time Stanley Cup Winner, NHL Coach of the Colorado Avalanche

NHL star Dan Quinn in team jersey

Dan Quinn

Ice Hockey, World Champion in World Championships, NHL Star

Olympic Medalist Abby Wambach holding up American Flag behind her

Abby Wambach

Soccer, Two-Time Olympic gold medalist, World Champion in FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015

Brad Wikerson dressed in baseball uniform swinging a baseball bat

Brad Wilkerson

Baseball, MLB Star, Olympic Gold Medalist

Ali Marpet

Football, NFL Super Bowl Champion, One-Time Pro Bowl

Nobel Laureates

profile of Martin Shalfie

Martin Chalfie

Ph.D. in Neurobiology, Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, A 2008 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

profile of Joachim Frank

Joachim Frank

Ph.D. in Physics, Professor of Biochemistry at Columbia University, A 2017 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

Edmund smiling

Edmund Phelps

Ph.D. in Economics, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, the 2006 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences

Carl Wieman

Ph.D. Professor of Physics and of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, A 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physics

Donna Strickland

Ph.D. in Optics, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo, A 2018 Nobel Laureate in Physics

Morten Meldal

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, A 2022 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

Ardem Patapoutian

Ph.D. in Biology, Professor of Neuroscience at Scripps Research, A 2021 Nobel Laureate in Physiology