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Dec. 20, 2004

Television Week Cover Photo

What is left for an athlete to achieve once they have won a gold medal in the Olympics?

A lot if you are Benita Fitzgerald-Mosley. Mosley, former track and field standout and industrial engineering graduate from the University of Tennessee, did not stop with just an Olympic gold medal.

Her latest achievement was being named TelevisionWeek's Cable Television Executive of the Year, an honor she earned because of her work as president and CEO of Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT) for the past three years. WICT is not the only thing going on in Mosley's life; she is also a wife and mother of two.

"I use sports metaphors for my life," said Mosley. "Overcoming hurdles, setting high goals, having tunnel vision, training hard - I call them my sports rules for life."

Yet, prior to and since winning gold in the 100-meter hurdles at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, being named Cable Television Executive of the Year is just one of her many successes in life. Before the Olympics, Mosley was setting records and winning awards here at the University of Tennessee. She continues to own a Lady Vol indoor record in the 60-meter hurdles and an outdoor mark with the 800-meter medley relay.

While at UT, she helped the Lady Vols win the 1981 AIAW Indoor National Championship and was a 14-time All-American, five-time national champion and nine-time SEC outdoor champion, just to name a few of her accomplishments. She also was named "Hurdler of the Decade" for the 1980s by Track & Field News and was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Lady Vol Hall of Fame in 2001.

Following her UT and post-collegiate competitive careers, Mosley went on to become a regional director of Special Olympics International, and in 1995 moved on to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). While on the Olympic Committee, she served as the director of all four U.S. training centers and as chair of the USOC Diversity Committee, while also acting as president of the board of the Women's Sports Foundation.

In 1996, Mosley was honored as one of eight U.S. Olympians to carry the Olympic Flag into the stadium during the Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta. That same year she was named winner of the Distinguished Service Award by the U.S. Sports Academy.

It was during her time working on the Olympic Committee and acting as president of the board of the Women's Sports Foundation, that a search firm working for WICT came across her. She climbed on board with WICT and immediately started looking for ways to create opportunities within the organization.

In a recent interview with TelevisionWeek, Mosley credited her sports background in helping her with what she does now. She also claims that being active in sports was another way for her to break through to another level in her life, due to the fact that when she was growing up her parents encouraged her to get a taste of everything. This allowed her to establish what she enjoyed and was good at.

"You really have to keep your head up, roll with the punches and keep on moving. You can't get bogged down by things that keep you down and hold you back," said Mosley. "Don't rest on your laurels, but also, don't beat yourself up for your mistakes."

Mosley definitely seems to have taken her determination on the track and put it into practice in her life. So, the next time you start wondering what an athlete does after winning an Olympic gold medal, chances are they may be like Benita Fitzgerald-Mosley and take their drive off the playing field and into their everyday lives to achieve greatness there too.