Olympians Shine on “Millionaire”

FOUR members of the US Olympic swim team, known mainly for their achievements in the water, strutted their intellectual side on October 24 and 25, appearing on ABC's hit show, "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?"

The swimmers–Lenny Krayzelburg, Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Gary Hall–were among six Olympians (the others were soccer player Julie Foudy and track sprinter Maurice Greene) who answered the initial question quickest, earning themselves a trip to the hot seat. The money earned by the contestants was split 50-50 with the charities of their choice and each athlete was guaranteed a minimum of $16,000.

In general, the questions asked the Olympians were even easier than is usually the case on the show, but most of the contestants were faced with at least one toughie. Lenny Krayzelburg indicated he must be a Beatles fan, getting "a little help from his friends"–particularly basketball player Lisa Leslie and Gary Hall–for several of the early questions.

Lenny won 32 Big Ones, stumbling on a question that asked which country has the largest rainforest. He split his winnings with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Jenny won $125,000, which she is splitting with Greenpeace, the environmental group. Jenny took the money and ran when asked an obscure question about the Scoville scale–which, for the record, measures the hotness of chili peppers.

Dara matched her Stanford teamate, also winning $125,000, half of which she donated to United Cerebral Palsy.

Gary Hall was another $125,000 winner. After answering several tough questions and dewmonstrating his knowledge of art, Gary was stumped by a question that asked what "Esperanto" means in Esperanto. Gary donated half of his winnings to the International Diabetic Athletes Association.

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