Tara Cunningham

Who is Tara Cunningham?

Tara Nott Cunningham grew up in Stilwell, Kansas. She was an Olympic weightlifter for the United States in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. She is the only athlete to have trained for three different sports at the United States Olympic Training Center. Her coaches were Mike Gattone and Bob Morris. She attended Blue Valley High School in Stilwell, KS and Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO. She is married to free style wrestler Casey Cunningham.

In 2000, she became the first US weightlifter to win Olympic gold since Chuck Vinci in 1960. The original gold medal winner, Bulgaria's Izabela Dragneva, was stripped of her gold after testing positive for furosemide and the gold was awarded to Nott.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics she ranked 10th in the 48 kg category.