Marilyn King

2X Olympic Pentathlete, Peak Performance Expert - Peace Enthusiast

A video snapshot of Marilyn’s engaging concepts.

Marilyn King's PROFILE

Marilyn King is a two-time Olympian in the five event Pentathlon. Her 20-year athletic career includes five national titles and a World Record. An automobile accident in 1979 rendered her unable to train physically for her third Olympic Team. Using only mental training techniques she placed second at the Olympic trials for the 1980 Moscow Games.

This extraordinary experience and resulting research led to a 35-year career as an expert in the field of exceptional human performance. Her work focuses on systemic change in the areas of business, education and peace.

Marilyn’s participation in an international, five- year think tank on the role of business in peace building led to a career conducting programs for senior executives with global responsibilities at Fortune 500 companies. Her corporate clients include: AT&T, IBM, Ikea, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, Starbucks and Wells Fargo.

Marilyn has also presented at over 200 national and international education conferences with academicians and researchers who are designing the schools of the future. Her most pioneering work, a joint Russian-American venture called “The Peace Team” resulted in two opportunities to speak at the United Nations and an invitation to create a U.N. sub-committee on the role of sport in peace building.

Among other awards, in 2017 Marilyn was honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award from Cal State University East Bay and a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Visioneers International Network in Vancouver Canada. Marilyn has also been featured in numerous articles and books including, Enlightened Power-How Women Are Transforming the Practice of Leadership by Lin Coughlin, Marilyn’s television and radio interviews include The News Hour and NBC Nightly News. 

Read more about Marilyn here:

  • Marilyn’s 20-year athletic career includes five national titles and a World Record. After competing on two Olympic Teams in the Pentathlon, (1972 in Munich and 1976 in Montreal), Marilyn set her sights on the 1980 Moscow games. In November of 1979 her car was hit by a truck and the resulting back injury made it impossible to do the required 6-8 hours a day physical training. For the next 7 months, she used only mental training and placed 2nd at the Olympic Trials for Moscow. This miraculous experience prompted her to give up her prestigious coaching career at UC Berkeley to do research and become a pioneer in the field of Exceptional Human Performance

  • Marilyn’s 1980 experience and resulting research experience and resulting research led to a 40 year career as an expert in the field of exceptional human performance. Her work focuses on systemic change in the areas of business, education and peace. Marilyn’s participation in an international, five- year think tank on the role of business in peace building led to a career conducting programs for senior executives with global responsibilities at Fortune 500 companies. Her corporate clients include: AT&T, IBM, Ikea, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, Starbucks and Wells Fargo, The Haas School of Business and many more national and international companies.

  • Marilyn has also presented at over 200 national and international accelerated learning, education conferences with academicians and researchers who are designing the schools of the future. Her Dare to Imagine Program for Oakland high risk youth is the basis for an initiative to make Olympian Thinking available to all Oakland preteens by 2028. Marilyn’s most pioneering work, a joint Russian -American venture called “The Peace Team” resulted in two opportunities to speak at the United Nations and an invitation to create a U.N. sub-committee on the role of sport in peace building.

  • In 2017 Marilyn was honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award from Cal State University East Bay and a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Visioneers International Network in Vancouver Canada. She has been inducted into numerous sports halls of fame. Marilyn has also been featured in numerous articles and books including, Enlightened Power - How Women Are Transforming the Practice of Leadership by Lin Coughlin, Marilyn’s television and radio interviews include The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and NBC Nightly News.