If there’s any proof that even the healthiest, most athletically fit people can be unlucky enough to develop breast cancer, let’s take a look at some Olympians who have battled the disease and become breast cancer thrivers. Cancer doesn’t care. It doesn’t discriminate. You can do everything right in terms of fitness, lifestyle and diet — yes, even be an Olympian and win an Olympic gold medal — and you can still be diagnosed with breast cancer. As my oncologist said to me, it just often comes down to rotten luck.
That said, the grit, tenacity, resilience and mental and physical toughness it takes to manage through diagnosis, treatment and life after treatment are exactly the characteristics that define Olympic athletes. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, cancer people are badass and among the toughest and most resilient people I know. Meet a few of these amazing women here.
Olympian: Kikkan Randall
American cross-country skiing athlete Kikkan Randall is an Olympic gold medallist, five-time Olympian and World Champion. On May 31, 2018 just over 3 months after achieving her lifelong goal of winning an Olympic gold medal Kikkan was diagnosed with Stage 2 triple-positive breast cancer. “To say that it rocked my world is an understatement. I went through all the phases. At first I experienced disbelief. Like, ‘No. This can’t be right. Not me. I can’t have this. I then shifted to anger and frustration, like, ‘This isn’t fair I have done everything right. This can’t be happening to me.’ It went against everything I believed to be true,” said Kikkan.
She now encourages young women to be breast aware, get screened and to stay as active as possible if diagnosed.
Olympian: Chaunte Lowe
Chaunte, a Team USA high jumper, is an American Record Holder, a 4-time Olympian, a 3-Time World Championship medalist, and 12-time US National Champion. Her cancer journey began when she found a tiny lump in her breast in 2018 while doing a self-examination. Her first doctor did not diagnosis it as cancer, however. A year later, she felt the same area and the lump felt bigger and she sought a second opinion. What followed was a diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer in 2019, followed by a double mastectomy and six rounds of chemotherapy.
“When I heard those words, I was extremely devastated,” she shares. “I couldn’t imagine that a world-class athlete — [and] the healthiest that I had ever been — would face something like cancer.”
Olympian: Novelene Mills
Novelene an Olympic sprinter was diagnosed with breast cancer a month before the London 2012 Olympics. Living privately with her diagnosis, Novelene and her relay team went on to compete and win the bronze medal at the London Olympics. Three days after arriving home from the competition, she was in surgery. She went on to have a double mastectomy and reconstruction.
I sat in the doctor’s office and I listened to everything he had to say. I didn’t cry until I went outside. That’s when I really fall apart. I felt like a baby. I was like, “This can’t be real. It’s impossible.”
Said Novelene in an interview with ESPN, “I work out hard, I eat right. I’ve done everything to keep a healthy body. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t do none of that. And for this thing to come in my body and take control of it … You know when you tell a friend something and they betray you? That’s how I feel. Like this thing just stabbed me right in the back. Like it just didn’t care who I was. It just wants to take control of everything and didn’t ask permission. It didn’t know that I have things to do.
Olympian: Erin Kennedy
Erin, a gold-medal medal para-olympian and coxswain for Team Great Britain was 29 when she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. Like Novelene, Erin decided to fly out to the World Cup in Serbia the following day after her diagnosis, and while in chemotherapy, competed in and won the European Championships in August 2022, before taking a break from rowing to focus on her treatment plan.
She made her return to international competition in May 2023 exactly a year to the day after her diagnosis, following recovery from a double mastectomy just four months earlier.
Olympian: Rachel Kochhann
Brazilian rugby star Rachel’s mother died of breast cancer, so she knew she was of a higher risk, and therefore, made self-exams a part of her body awareness routine. That said, she was still shocked to learn in 2022 that she too, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. After finishing her chemotherapy, she resumed training at the three-month mark and returned to play, but had to relearn many of the skills needed on the field of play including passing and scratching. Given the physical nature of rugby, which involves tackling one’s opponent, Rachel also faced additional risks as bones can be weakened from breast cancer treatment. Despite this concern, she has been able to return fully to the pitch, crediting her regime of strength training which has helped her remain strong and resilient.
Competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris for Team Brazil, Rachel will become the first rugby sevens player from Brazil to play three times in the Olympic Games, together with Luiza Campos. She was also Team Brazil’s flag bearer alongside sprint canoeist Isaquias Queiroz.
