Here are five inspiring athletes whose performances you won’t want to miss. The Summer Games are about to begin Beijing, China, and once again the Team USA roster is filled with inspirational stories. Take Mark Warkentin, from Santa Barbara, California, who failed to qualify for the Olympic team in three consecutive U.S. Trials (1996, 2000, and 2004). In a real show of perseverance, he changed his event—and made the team.
Then there’s Laura Wilkinson, who had Olympic success early in her career, winning the gold medal in platform diving at the 2000 Games in Sydney. But four years later, in Athens, in what she thought might be her last Olympiad, she did not medal. Determined to leave on winning terms, Wilkinson returned to training and made this year’s U.S. team with her first perfect 10 dive ever. Heading to Beijing, twenty-one-year-old Amy Rodriguez is one of the youngest players on the U.S. women’s soccer team. But she doesn’t take a backseat to anyone. Only weeks before the Summer Games opened, she scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over rival Brazil. It was Brazil that upset Team USA in last year’s World Cup, and the two favorites are expected to meet again in China—with a gold medal on the line. A lot will be asked of Rodriguez with Abby Wambach, the team’s leading scorer in the last two World Cups and the 2004 Games, sidelined for the duration of the Olympics with a broken leg.
Then there’s Bernard Lagat was born in Kenya and first rose to prominence running for that country. But after attending Washington State University, he decided to stay in America and eventually become a U.S. citizen. Heading to Beijing, he’ll double in the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters. Alicia Sacramone began gymnastics at the age of 8. She failed to make the U.S. Olympic team in 2004, but rebounded to become a crucial member of U.S. national team. Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin are the only American women’s gymnasts to hold more World Championships medals than Sacramone, who’s been called the “spiritual and social leader” of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.
Listen to their inspiring stories—in their own words.
Keep On, Keeping On: Mark Warkentin
It’s hard to describe what it’s like making the team. I’ve been to Olympic Trials (1996, 2000 and 2004) and failed to make the cut. Then I look back at the fifteen years of morning and afternoon swim practices to get to this point, this peak. My mom, Mardi, was instrumental in this. She kept telling me that you don’t quit until you have nothing else left in the tank. She convinced me that there was something left—something still out there for me.
The news that the open-water event, 10 kilometers, was going to be introduced for the Beijing Games came about the same time I was wavering, wondering if I should retire or not. By that point, in the pool events, I wasn’t getting any faster and people were beating me. Without this new event, I wasn’t much of an Olympic hopeful. It was either time to retire or try this new event, open-water swimming. One of my coaches suggested that I try an open-water race in Santa Barbara, where I train. He felt that I could win this race, so I thought, “Why not?”
I swam this race in the ocean, one mile long, against some master swimmers and part-time recreational swimmers, and I won easily. So I thought, Maybe I’m good at this. In looking back on it, that was such a small-time race. It was like a pickup basketball game, but it gave me confidence in a big way.
