Meet our Olympian

When Gift Shops Sales Associate Robin Campbell-Bennett was in the fourth grade her teacher asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Robin announced, "One day I am going to be a famous track star."

Not long after her 14th birthday, Robin competed in a race at Madison Square Garden where she came in a close second place. Shortly thereafter, she won an individual race and anchored the winning relay team. Due to her young age, she was unable to compete in the 1973 Olympic games in Munich.

In 1975, Robin was selected for a Friendship First Competition trip to China and ran the third leg of the 4 x 100 relay between future Olympic gold medalist sprinters Evelyn Ashford and Florence "Flo-Jo" Griffith Joyner.

She enrolled at San Jose State University, the same school that Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos attended. Because the school did not have a women's track and field team, she joined the Stanford Track Club but still represented San Jose State in the World University Games.

In 1980, the year the United States boycotted the Olympic games, Robin was among the 450 Olympic athletes awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on the steps of the Capitol, and she met President Jimmy Carter at the White House.

Robin placed fifth in the 1983 Track & Field World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, and joined the American Olympic team the following year. A highlight of the games for Robin was sitting in the stands with Wilma Rudolph.

Robin continued to compete in different track and field races into the 1990s. Today, she is proud of her athletic career. We treasure the Olympian among us.