ALLEN COUNTY, OH (WLIO) - It's not every day you get to talk to and learn from an American Olympic gold medalist, but kids at Shawnee Middle School seized that rare opportunity.
Mary Wineberg is an Ohio native and American Olympic gold medalist in track at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The former educator pursued her dreams of becoming a world-class runner. Now she's published a book and is a public speaker, traveling the country and inspiring young people.
Wineberg shared her story with the students and even allowed them to pass around her Olympic gold medal. The road to glory was not an easy one for Mary, and she wants to spread the message of the title of her book, "Unwavering Perseverance."
"I did not think that I would be doing this, but I will say, right after coming back from the Olympics, I got called in to do a lot of different things, and I sat back and said, 'You know what? I can do this. I definitely don't want to take this medal and just put it off somewhere. I want to show the world; I wanna share my story, and you never know, there might be a Mary Wineberg sitting in the crowd. For me, I think it's important that they're able to see someone in real life. I started off not having the perfect life, and look what I was able to become. I didn't let that determine where I was going to be. I didn't let it decide my destiny," said Mary Wineberg, a U.S.A. gold medalist in the women's 4 x 400 relay.
Wineberg's visit was sponsored by the Junior Achievement program. She also visited Spencerville Schools.
