FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2016, 11:00 a.m. CDT
Contact Jason Hogue, Peru State College Marketing and Communications, 402.872.2429
Peru, Nebraska- Six-time Olympic gold medalist and national sports announcer Amy Van Dyken attracted
two hundred and fifty people to the Campus of a Thousand Oaks on November 2. Competing
with game seven of the World Series did not faze the Olympian as she described her
life, Olympic competitions and struggle to walk again.
The record-breaking swimmer came back from a shoulder injury to win a pair of gold
medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics — adding to the four she had already won in 1996.
Fourteen years later, Van Dyken was in an ATV accident that severed her spine. The
43-year-old wasn’t breathing when her husband found her and doctors only gave her
a 20 percent chance of surviving the surgery.
The Olympian espoused a defiant philosophy in the face of Olympic and medical trials,
often repeating the idea, “Who are you, to tell me, what I can and can’t do?”
Van Dyken was on campus again Thursday morning to visit with a variety of students
including students interested in coaching and physical therapy.
In March, the Distinguished Speaker Series at Peru State will bring scientist, violinist
and prodigy Vijay Gupta to campus.
Amy Van Dyken during her speech on November 2.
Amy Van Dyken was a powerful and expressive speaker during her visit to Peru State.
###
For more information, visit www.peru.edu or call 1-800-742-4412.