GATLINBURG - Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies hosted a party Dec. 5 honoring two United States Olympic Medalists who were the grand marshals of the Gatlinburg 33rd annual Fantasy of Lights Christmas Parade.
Monica Abbott, who played on the 2008 USA silver medal winning softball team, and Kevin Stone, who won a medal at the Paralympic games for archery, greeted and signed autographs for Gatlinburg city officials, dignitaries, and their families.
“It was a genuine pleasure for Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies to have the opportunity to meet and acknowledge these two exceptional world athletes,” said Steve File, general manager of the aquarium.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience not only to be remembered by the Aquarium, but by the estimated 70,000 tourists who saw them in the the Gatlinburg Christmas parade.”
Abbott, the former University of Tennessee southpaw pitcher, played a large role in the success of the USA’s silver medal-winning softball team at this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
Stone, a resident of Kodak and veteran of the U.S. Army’s 7th infantry, is a Paralympic archer who was a member of the first American team to ever win a medal for archery, capturing bronze at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.