Cammi Granato

In 1998, Granato got to live a dream when the first women's hockey tournament was included in the Winter Olympics. Her brother Tony had played for the men's team in 1988. Granato served as captain of her team, and scored the first ever goal in a 5-0 victory over China. She went on to lead the women to a gold medal victory over Canada. When she won, Granato told Thom Loverro of the Washington Times, "For so many years, people told me that you weren't supposed to be on the ice. Whey are you doing this? You're not going to go anywhere with this. And now I have this gold medal around my neck, and it feels pretty good."

The success of the American women led to much exposure for all the players including Granato. She was offered a tryout with the New York Islanders. She turned it down because she did not need the attention, and did not think she had the muscle mass to compete with men. Instead, Granato tried to get other girls and women interested in the sport by conducting clinics. Granato also got endorsement deals from Nike, CBS Sports Line, and AT&T, among others.

After the 1998 Olympics, Granato tried another hockey related career when she became a radio broadcaster for the Los Angeles Kings, the second such woman in league history. This position allowed her time to continue to train for the U.S. women's team, though she only did it only for one season. In 1999, Granato devoted herself to hockey full time by playing for USA's select program for several years.

In 2002, Granato was again a member of the U.S. women's Olympic hockey team. Again named captain, Team USA won the silver medal by losing to Canada, 3-2. After the Olympics, she planned on playing for the Vancouver Griffins of the National Women's Hockey League in 2002-03, and hoped to play in the 2006 Winter games.

In describing what makes Granato a great hockey player, her 1998 Olympic coach, Ben Smith, told Thom Loverro of the Washington Times, "Cammi … is a player whose total is better than the sum of their parts. She is not the strongest skater or shooter, but in tight circumstances, she comes through. Her teammates look up to her as a leader."