Dannette Martin Leininger (born June 6, 1963) is an American former

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player who competed in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

and in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Leininger was born on June 6, 1963. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...

, and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2009. Leininger then attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where she earned a degree in secondary education. Leininger played collegiate softball at UM, and was inducted into the school's Softball Hall of Fame. Leininger was a member of the

United States women's national handball team The United States women's national handball team is the national team of the United States. It takes part in international handball competitions. At the 1982 World Women's Handball Championship in Hungary the U.S. team placed 11th. ...

and appeared in the

. She resigned from her positions as a teacher at Beamount Middle School and fastpitch softball coach at Saint Cloud High School in 1994 to train for the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and

. At the 1995 Pan Am Games, the women's national handballers won a gold medal. During the 1996 Olympics, however, the United States finished last in the women's handball tournament. Following the end of her competitive career, Leininger remained with

United States Team Handball Federation United States Team Handball Federation was the governing body for handball in the United States from 1959 until 2006. The successor USA Team Handball is funded in part by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee in 2008. United States Team Handba ...

in an administrative capacity through 2006. She then worked for the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

of Greater Boston. By January 2008, Leininger moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to join the municipal Department of Parks and Recreation, and also to manage the Al Oerter Recreation Center and Flushing Meadows Corona Aquatics Center. In January 2012, Leininger was appointed deputy chief of recreation for Manhattan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leininger, Dannette 1963 births Living people American female handball players Olympic handball players for the United States Handball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Bloomington, Minnesota Minnesota Golden Gophers softball players Competitors at the 1995 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Manhattan People from Osceola County, Florida Schoolteachers from Florida 20th-century American women educators 20th-century American educators Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in handball