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Double duty: 11 Olympians who've played both winter and summer sports

Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams are no strangers to the Olympics. They are both track-and-field veterans of the Summer Games, and now they will represent the United States at the Winter Games in Sochi as bobsledders. But they're not the first to make the jump between seasons — they'll be the ninth and 10th Americans to compete in both versions of the Games.According to Olympic historian Bill Mall
Lolo Jones, Lauryn Williams, Jana Pittman
From left, Lolo Jones, Lauryn Williams and Jana Pittman are among the Olympic athletes who have tried both summer and winter sports.Today

Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams are no strangers to the Olympics. They are both track-and-field veterans of the Summer Games, and now they will represent the United States at the Winter Games in Sochi as bobsledders. But they're not the first to make the jump between seasons — they'll be the ninth and 10th Americans to compete in both versions of the Games.

According to Olympic historian Bill Mallon, a total of 128 athletes have competed in both Winter and Summer Games. Here's a look at 11 notable athletes who decided two sports are better than one. 

1. Lolo Jones
The track-and-field athlete who finished seventh in the 100 hurdles in Beijing in 2008 and fourth in 2012 decided to make the switch and try bobsledding after the London Olympics. 

2. Lauryn Williams
The former sprinter, who won a silver medal in the women’s 100 meters in Athens in 2004 and gold in the 4 x 100 meter relay London in 2012, is competing in Sochi in the bobsledding event. After talking to Jones (her teammate), Williams made the Olympic bobsled team as a push athlete just six months after making the transition.

3. Jana Pittman
The Australian athlete who competed at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games in the 400 meters run and 400 meter hurdles events has made the switch to bobsledding. Pittman has said recently that bobsledding is the event she should have been doing 10 years ago.

4. Hanna Mariën
The former Belgian 200 meter sprinter has also turned to bobsledding. Marien said she had to overcome dizziness after early bobsled runs and was considering a career change because of it. 

5. Craig Pickering
The 27-year-old, who was a member of Britain’s 4 x 100 meters team at the summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, switched from track and field to bobsledding a year ago. Pickering will play the role of the brakeman on his team.

6. Andre Georges Poplimont
He played ice hockey for Belgium at the inaugural Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix, France, and later fenced for Belgium in the 1932 Summer Olympics.

7. Jacob Tullin Thams
Norwegian Thams competed in both ski jumping and sailing. He took medals in both, winning at ski jumping in 1924 and taking second with the Norwegian sailing team in the 8-meter class in 1936.

8. Nikolai Panin
In 1908, the 35-year-old Russian competed the special figures event at the Summer Olympics in London and won gold. Four years later, at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Panin, finished fourth as part of the Russian team in a shooting event called military revolver.

9. Clara Hughes
The Canadian athlete has had success in both of her sports: cycling and speed skating. Hughes won two bronze medals in the Summer Olympics in 1996, and a total of four medals over the course of three Winter Olympics. She is only one of four athletes to have won medals in both winter and summer sports.

10. Christa Luding
The former speed skater and track cyclist was a force to be reckoned with in the '80s. In 1988, Luding earned the distinction of being the only athlete to win Summer and Winter Olympic medals in the same year. It also made her the first woman, and the third athlete overall, to win medals in both Olympics.

11. Eddie Egan
The American sportsman is notable as being the only person to win gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. He won his summer gold in boxing and his winter gold in four-man bobsled. 

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