How a McDonald’s Gig Helped Propel Olympian Quanesha Burks to Tokyo

By Jon Hersey

Editor’s note: This article is republished with permission from Foundation for Economic Education.

For Olympic jumper Quanesha Burks, the road to the Tokyo games started in a surprising place: a McDonald’s.

Raised by her grandparents in Hartselle, Alabama, she got her first job there at seventeen. Her days began at 4:30 am, driving her grandmother to work…