First person to win an Olympic medal and an Oscar

The first person to win an Olympic medal and an Academy Award is former professional basketball star Kobe Bryant (USA), who won gold medals in basketball with the United States in 2008 and 2012, and an Oscar statuette for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball (USA, 2017) at the 90th Academy Awards ceremony held on 4 March 2018. The animated short was written and narrated by the retired Lakers star, and is based on the poem of the same name he wrote in 2015 announcing his impending retirement from basketball; he shared the award with the Disney animator Glen Keane.

Director Glen Keane, who provided the hand-drawn animations, had previously worked on Disney classics Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. The six-minute film was scored by Star Wars and Jaws composer John Williams.