On August 8, the world will once again come together to experience the Summer Olympics. Meet some of the exceptional young Americans who will proudly represent their country in Beijing at the world’s premier athletic showcase.

What’s required of an athlete to make the Olympics is nearly impossible to quantify. Talent, hard work, determination, a lifelong dedication to training and a solid support team are all necessary elements. But you also need that indefinable quality known as the Olympic spirit. The United States Olympic Committee will be sending about 630 athletes to Beijing this year for the Summer Games. We can only introduce you to a few of them, but the young standouts featured here embody all of the remarkable qualities it takes to compete on the world’s biggest stage.
 
Whether they stand proudly on a dais as medal winners or exuberantly support their teammates from the sidelines, each one of these young men and women deserve the gratitude of an entire nation, who will be cheering them on from the other side of the world.

And while they look good now, in a few weeks they may look even better. New jewelry can do that for you.

On August 8, the world will once again come together to experience the Summer Olympics. Meet some of the exceptional young Americans who will proudly represent their country in Beijing at the world’s premier athletic showcase.

What’s required of an athlete to make the Olympics is nearly impossible to quantify. Talent, hard work, determination, a lifelong dedication to training and a solid support team are all necessary elements. But you also need that indefinable quality known as the Olympic spirit. The United States Olympic Committee will be sending about 630 athletes to Beijing this year for the Summer Games. We can only introduce you to a few of them, but the young standouts featured here embody all of the remarkable qualities it takes to compete on the world’s biggest stage.
 
Whether they stand proudly on a dais as medal winners or exuberantly support their teammates from the sidelines, each one of these young men and women deserve the gratitude of an entire nation, who will be cheering them on from the other side of the world.

And while they look good now, in a few weeks they may look even better. New jewelry can do that for you.

The Complete Package
///  Bryan Clay, the Tiger Woods of the U.S. Olympic team (Asian mother, African-American father, dominating athlete), won a silver medal in the decathlon at the 2004 Summer Games, and was ranked the No. 1 decathlon athlete in the world in both 2005 and 2006. This could be his golden year.

I know that if I do the best that I possibly can, there’s no one out there who can beat me. Right now, it’s one of those things where I know all I have to do is go out and have a decent meet and do the best I can and I’ll come home with the gold.

I practice every day. I wake up at 6 in the morning and I go to the weight room by 7, and I’m lifting from 7 until about 9. From 9 until 10, I go home and eat some breakfast, see my kids. Then I head back to the track at 10 and I’m there until about 3.

I’m really lucky. I’ve got a very good support group out here. My wife comes out to the track with the kids usually every day. That breaks up the day and just kind of makes you smile and makes you forget about how hot it is and how bad your body hurts.

the hard thing about the Olympics is that once you get to that level, it’s anybody’s game. It comes down to who makes the least amount of mistakes, who’s going to be tough enough mentally to stay focused. And, believe me, there’s a lot of distractions. People don’t realize that the click of a camera can be a distraction that throws everything off.

My faith plays a huge role in who I am and what I’m all about. It really sets the foundation for me and my life — who I am, how I compete and why I compete. I feel like I have all those questions answered in my heart. I understand what’s really important in life, what’s a blessing and what can be taken away tomorrow.

My dream started when I was 8 years old. I was watching the 1988 Olympics and saw Carl Lewis win the 10-meter dash. I remember being awestruck by the fact that this guy is the fastest guy on the track. Then he grabbed the U.S. flag and draped it around himself and continued to jog around the track holding the flag, and everyone was cheering for him and screaming his name. I thought, Man, that is the coolest thing ever. I turned to my mom and dad and said, “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.”

It was just a crazy little dream when I was only 8 years old, and it got set on the back burner for a few years. But I definitely came full circle, and now I’ve been able to accomplish that dream.

It was during the long jump, which is the second event of the decathlon, that I experienced my Olympic moment. Everything that happened after that Olympic moment, including the silver medal, was icing on the cake.

I already have been so blessed to be able to accomplish my dreams and aspirations. And I have more dreams and aspirations outside of track and field. That’s why I train as hard as I do. And that’s why I’m still trying to reach the gold medal, and hopefully take down a few records at the same time. I know that’s going to set me up in the future for even greater things.

There’s no way I would be where I am without the help of so many people in my life. I’ve got high school coaches and club team coaches; my parents and my grandparents; my wife; my coaches in college; youth pastors who would pick me up in the middle of the night when I was fighting with my parents to help me cool off and talk me through what was going on. All these people were there for me when I needed them. I want to make sure that I have the opportunity to do all that for someone else someday.

The Frequent Flyer
///  Brianna Glenn’s combination of two NCAA titles in the long jump and a sprint event had never been done until she did it in 2002. The photogenic track star and part-time model didn’t make the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, and is now overcoming knee surgery, but it hasn’t dimmed her hopes.

I’ve been around for a while. I’ve had a lot of ups as well as downs. I think every sport is a roller coaster of good and bad. It’s taught me a lot about myself.

The Olympics are an opportunity that comes along once every four years. When you have something that takes so long even to attempt, you can only succeed if you’re truly committed to it.

In 2004 I thought it was my time. But obviously it wasn’t. I was very devastated, but I also knew I had what it takes to do this sport for four more years of my life. So four more years and here I am.

My knee had a cartilage defect.  I had the surgery about a month ago to kind of clean it up and get everything working again. But that’s the thing about plans. You make them, but God always has other plans. I’m doing the best I can with the cards I was dealt.

I split my time between the weight room and the track. The strength aspect of what we do is very important. We ask a lot of our bodies and they need to be strong enough to handle all of the impact.

As a woman, you have to take it year by year, because in this sport you put a lot of other things on hold in your life. I definitely think in terms of my age and what I can do, 2012 is an option.

I think I can model because I’m an athlete. I’ve picked up tons of new fans because of the Budweiser ad I did in Sports Illustrated. They didn’t know who I was before that but now they do, and that’s very good. I think the more we can get ourselves out there, the more attention we can bring to our sport.

Female athletes don’t need to be one-dimensional. We’re females as much as we are athletes, and you don’t need to downplay one to be good at the other.

My abs are one of my claims to fame, I guess. Track athletes have to have a strong core. But as far as my abs showing up the way they do — genetics. I’m blessed in that department.

This sport, especially, you sacrifice a lot. When it’s not an Olympic year, nobody really knows about track and field, so we definitely do it for the love of the sport. I feel it’s my calling; it’s what God blessed me with in terms of talent. But it’s hard sometimes and you have to give up a lot in order to realize your dreams.

I know that as long as I’ve tried my hardest and given every bit I can give, then that’s all I can ask of myself. I feel that this year is my year. And I feel that this dream is within reach, so I just have to keep believing that.

The Diehard
///  David Durante graduated from Stanford University with a major in human biology and a minor in psychology. He now waits as an alternate while ’04 Gold Medal winner Paul Hamm attempts to recover from a broken hand.

We proved at last year’s World Championships that we have a medal-contending team without Paul [Hamm]. But, obviously, to have him on the team will definitely shoot us up to not only a medal team, but actually a contender to take that top spot.

The team aspect of this sport is what I love most. To be able to go out there and compete with five other guys for one common goal ?— to bring back gold for the United States — is my primary goal.

It’s still very special to me that I’m able to compete at this level and make the Olympic Games. It’s something that I’ve wanted since I was a little kid.

Talent is only the tip of the iceberg. Talent gets you through the front door, but there’s so much more required to get you to that top level. It comes down to work ethic and how bad you want something and the sacrifices you’re willing to make along the way. I’ve seen a ton of athletes who have talent and have kind of wasted it because they weren’t willing to do things to make it to the next level. They relied too much on talent alone.

I wasn’t one of the most talented guys growing up. It took me a long time to make it to that next level. But I always felt I was willing to put in a little extra time and sacrifice more than some people, so it paid off in the end. I was always able to see that for myself.

I’m going to be 28 years old, and there are a lot of sacrifices you make at this age. Most people have their careers sorted out and some people have already started families. I’ve postponed the next stage of my life for this. But probably the hardest part of the whole thing is being away from my family for about 10 years now. They’re a huge part of my life, and I’m the only one of my family who’s not back in New Jersey. It’s very difficult not only for me, but for my family.

As a gymnast, there’s rarely a day that you don’t feel some kind of injury. In my freshman year in 1998, I fell and tore up my whole knee. I had it reconstructed, but I’ve had recent issues with the same knee. My doctor said the grafts I had done had stretched out like a piece of taffy. But he told me it should hold.

Gymnastics is a year-round sport, so we’re always going. We train six days a week. At this point, we’re so into just perfecting our routine. Normally we’d spend about six hours a day in the gym. Now we’re trying to be as efficient as possible and then get out of the gym so we don’t beat up on our bodies.

I think I’m going to retire after this year. I’ve been putting it off for a number of years. I feel like I owe it to myself to give it one more shot.

The Water Jet
///  At the Pan Pacific Games in 2006, Cullen Jones became the first African-American male to share a world record (100-meter freestyle relay) in swimming. He’s got a good shot in Beijing to do it again.

I’m really excited. My goals have become to win the 50-meter freestyle, and I’d love to win the 100-meter freestyle with my team, too. I’ve been taught to set no boundaries.

At the Pan Pacific Games, I definitely wasn’t thinking, Oh my goodness, if I swim well in this relay and be part of a new world record, I’ll be the first African-American to do it. I was nervous because I just wanted to swim well for Cullen’s sake and for the other three guys.

I was the rookie on the team. Michael [Phelps] is younger than me, but in the swimming world he’s a lot more experienced than I am. He came up to me and said, “Don’t worry about it. Just relax. You’ve trained already, just let it all out. The adrenaline will get you home.” And I’m looking at him, like, You’ve gotta be out of your mind. And Jason [Lezak] said, “You usually wait till the end to swim fast. Take it all the way out.” That’s what I?did, and I ended up making a name for myself in the swimming world by being able to call myself a world-record holder.

It was really hard losing my dad when I was 16. You’re starting to grow facial hair and experience a lot of the “man stuff” that you’d usually go through with your dad. But through that pain I was able to grow.

A lot of people say, “You’re such a strong person to have gone through so much adversity.” I’ve been dealing with death since I was 9. My mom and I are the only nuclear family I have left. My grandparents, my uncle, my dad, my cousin — all of them have passed.

I think my dad would tell me to stay focused now. I got my competitiveness from him, but I think he’d say, “Win, lose or draw, I’m always gonna be proud of you. Just go out there, do your best and have fun.”

We’re naturally all competitive; it’s part of what drives us. But the beautiful thing about Team USA — and even outside of our team and country in our sport — is we’re able to swim competitively and still be good friends.

One of my coaches told me, “You should never dedicate your sport to anyone but yourself.” And I asked him why, because I wanted to dedicate my swimming to my dad. My coach said, “You can do that when you’re done. But the last thing you want to do is dedicate it [while you’re doing it], because if it doesn’t come through, you’re gonna feel like you’ve let someone down.” I really took that to heart. So I won’t dedicate swimming to my dad until after I’m done.

The Flash
///  Terrence Trammell won the silver medal in the 110-meter hurdles at both the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, and is a favorite in Beijing despite some minor injuries earlier this year.

I feel good about the way things have been going, and I’m happy just to have stayed healthy these last few years. As a runner, you’re actually kind of tearing your body apart. It’s a terrible reality for a sport that you love.

Last year I had a slight tear in what’s called the adductor magnus, where the muscle and tendon connect in the groin area. It was in my trail leg, so it was really tough to hurdle. I had trouble just walking for a few days.

It happened three weeks before the U.S. Nationals, and we were trying to make the World Championships team. It was an injury with an eight-week recovery period, and I came back in three, all taped and patched up at the meet. It was a very stressful situation, but I feel really blessed to have come off an injury of that magnitude. I won my semifinal and then that evening ended up winning the championship. I was really thrilled over that.

I got my best time, 12.95 seconds [in the 110-meter hurdles] at the race that I had the pain in my leg. Definitely my goal is to break the world record if it’s in the cards. I know I’m capable of doing it, because I’ve made massive strides in my racing, my fitness and my strength.

I have a bachelor’s in retail management. I’ve started a clothing line of athletic wear and track uniforms. I’m doing the uniforms for one of my Republic of Guinea training mates, Satama Sosonah, for the Games this year.

I’m definitely capable of running until 2012, and I want to come back running for the 2009 World Championships. I’d love to go until 2012 and possibly win another medal. The biggest hurdle for me has been keeping myself focused through the injuries.

The Prodigy
/// One of only five U.S. women to win five medals in one Olympic Games (2004), Natalie Coughlin continues to break records and dominate her competition. She’s the most decorated female swimmer in world championships history, winning 22 international medals, on her way to setting five individual world records. The telegenic Olympian has also done work in front of the camera as an in-studio commentator.

The fact that I have been through the craziness of the Olympics once before is a tremendous help. I keep reminding myself to stay calm and have faith in my training. 

I’m sure that raises expectations, but in some ways I feel less pressure going into this Olympics. I feel very strong going into this summer and I am ready to compete and have fun.

Cross-training has made me into a more well-rounded athlete. Currently I run, lift weights and have an intense Pilates regimen in addition to my pool work. It keeps my mind fresh while I still get a great workout geared toward my swimming goals.

I have no idea what the future holds for me. I had a great time working with MSNBC for the Torino Olympics and felt like I learned a lot. I would love to have the opportunity to do some broadcasting again, and I definitely have some more to learn!

I think it’s important to have long-term and short-term goals. Roughly, I would define long-term as a year or longer, and short-term as shorter than a year. It’s important to have stepping stones along the way to a long-term goal to make it more manageable and to keep yourself motivated. Also, it’s important for young girls to evaluate their goals and make sure they are their own.

I want to be more present in the moment this time around and enjoy the experience. I was so nervous and overwhelmed by the Olympics the last time around that I hardly even remember them!

The Comeback Kid
///  Once a rising star, Chellsie Memmel suffered several serious injuries over the last few years, including a broken foot before the Athens Games in 2004, and had major shoulder surgery in 2006. Now she’s back and chasing the favorites on the American team. Memmel is poised to make it to Beijing when most thought it was over for her.

I feel confident that I’m performing on the level I should be. Now it’s a matter of maintaining things and staying healthy.

I’m doing a lot more routines and working on the parts that need work. It’s about fine tuning and getting maximum results from your workout.

We do absolutely no weight training. We don’t want to bulk up too much, as that would be a little bit restrictive for us. We do a lot of stretching—it’s all conditioning.

Bars have been my favorite for a while. I also love to compete in floors. That’s the routine I feel where you can really connect with the crowd. The vault has always been the hardest for me.

My shoulder’s been doing great. I’ve haven’t had problems with it for about four months. I do shoulder exercises every day and stretch it out a lot before I do bars. But I’m back to all my routines. It was probably the most difficult rehab I’ve ever gone through. I lost all muscle, all my range of motion. I had to work really hard to get that back. I remember getting excited when I could raise my arm above my head. My physical therapist would be, like, “That’s pathetic!” [Laughs]

Even after the surgery I’d go to the gym every day and do what I could. It was great being in that environment, because everybody’s so supportive.

A lot of us have been competing for years. But we are friends. It’s always a friendly rivalry when we’re not competing as a team.

At first I was disappointed in not being able to make the first team [in 2004]. Then when I realized the extent of the injury, I was, like, I might not make the Olympic team. When I got back from Athens — I was the alternate — it was hard to get motivated again. That’s when I had my dad coach me. We decided to concentrate on a yearly plan. And right now I feel like it’s all coming together.

I’ll be 20 on July 23. As far as 2012, we’ll see how my body is doing.

If you want to be a high-level athlete, you have to know how to deal with pain.