Sandy Dukat and Scott Olson Inducted into 2024 Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame

Sandy Dukat, from Denver, Colorado, and Scott Olson, from Littleton, Colorado, were both recently inducted into the National Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame. The Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame, hosted by Move United, recognizes outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to summer and winter adaptive sports.

Dukat was inducted in the Winter Competition category, which recognizes an individual athlete who has, in their participation in national and international competition, distinguished themselves through outstanding performance and superior sportsmanship over the span of at least three years.  Dukat was born with a limb deficiency in her right leg. At four years old, her leg was amputated above the knee. Growing up, she played able-bodied sports. It was not until 1996 when Dukat learned about adaptive sports and the Paralympic Games.

Growing up as a swimmer, Dukat jumped back in the pool. After a couple of years training, she made the U.S. Disabled Swim Team, competing at the 1998 Disabled Swimming World Championships. During her swim career, Dukat would also be introduced to alpine skiing. Finding her love for speed on the slopes, she switched sports after the 1998 World Championships and moved to Colorado.

Making the U.S. Disabled Ski Team in 2000, Dukat captured two bronze medals at the 2002 Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. She won her first gold medal at the North American World Cup in 2005 and captured the bronze in the slalom at the 2006 Paralympic Games in Torino, Italy.

She retired from competition in July 2007. But not one to sit idle, Dukat teamed up with four other women with disabilities to climb Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2007. In 2008, she won both the World Triathlon Championships (Vancouver, Canada) for the female above the knee amputee category as well as the US Disabled National Triathlon Championships (NYC). Four years in a row, Dukat won the US Paratriathlon Nationals.

In 2015, Dukat joined the Range of Motion Project (ROMP) where she hiked Cayambe (a 18,996 foot volcano) in Ecuador to raise awareness and funds for those living with limb loss without access to prosthetic care in developing countries. Finally, in 2019, she summited Cotopaxi (19,000 feet) as part of the ROMP’s elite climbing team.

“I am humbled & honored to have been inducted into the Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame,” Dukat said. “This award represents a lifetime of working hard, choosing to be brave & ultimately never giving up. Thank you Move United & all those who have supported my adapted sports journey.”

Olson was inducted in the winter contributor category. This award recognizes an individual who has a minimum of five years of experience in adaptive sports as a coach, administrator, founder, event director or other leadership role. The inductee has made a significant contribution to the field, including innovative techniques, specialized equipment, program development, coaching, education, or administration/management.

Olson served as a coach and instructor at the Courage Center in Minnesota, where he was the Volunteer of the Year in 1995. He was also recognized as the High School Coach of the Year in 2004 in Forest Lake, Minnesota.

In 2007, Olson moved to Winter Park, Colorado, to coach with the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD). He has been a coach, mentor and friend to many athletes, from development athletes to Paralympic champions.

Once referred to as the “UN of ski racing,” Olson has represented many international athletes and countries at the Paralympic Games. For example, he was the head coach for Iceland at Vancouver 2010, the head coach for New Zealand at Sochi 2014, and the head coach for Israel at Beijing 2022. He would be named the New Zealand Coach of the Year in 2012 and the U.S. Adaptive Domestic Coach of the Year in 2015. Olson has coached Paralympic Medalists Corey Peters and Adam Hall (2014, 2018 respectively).

In addition. Olson has made significant contributions through his involvement at The Hartford Ski Spectacular, a week-long winter adaptive sports event that has been held in Breckenridge, Colorado for more than three decades. Olson has also been a staple of the DAV Winter Clinic since the late 1990s and was selected as the DAV Instructor of the Year in 2005.

Since retiring from full-time coaching, Olson continues to shape lives by creating custom sport seating at Aspen Seating. Other awards include the Order of Ikkos, a medallion award presented in 2010 in recognition of countless hours training America’s athletes to achieve the dream of a medal as well as the Outrigger Award (for contribution to adaptive sport) by NSCD in 2022.

“30 years ago I started this journey with adaptive sports in Minnesota at the Courage Center not realizing how it would impact my life,” Olson said. “One of the athletes, Cassie Grenier, told me that I was a pebble being thrown in to the lake, my ripple would reach fare and wide and touch may people. No big slash just a small ripple. I laughed. When I was told that I was being inducted into the Adaptive Hall of Fame is when I realize she was right. I have worked with athletes from 17 countries, traveled the world, and made thousands of friends. Never under estimate the pebble.”

The Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame was created to honor individuals who have had an influential role in the field of adaptive sports as well as athletes who have excelled in it. To learn more about the Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame, including a list of past award recipients, visit https://www.moveunitedsport.org/sports/adaptive-sports-awards/.