Issue Date: August 17, 2008

In this article: Synchronized swimming Decathlon Wrestling

OLYMPICS

The best is yet to come

With one more week to go, we asked past Olympic champions whom you should keep your eye on.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
Becky Kim and the U.S. team are in sync after rebuilding from scratch.

When U.S. synchronized swimming team members are in the water, they are one. But when work is done for the day, they are clearly individuals.

Andrea Nott and Kim Probst, two of the senior members of the team, are quick with good advice that comes with experience, or a joke to break up tension. Brooke Abel keeps spirits light with her Elvis impersonations. Kate Hooven is the artist: a swimmer as well as a clothing designer. Christina Jones is always upbeat, finding a positive vibe in any situation.

And Becky Kim, 23, conveys much of all of these qualities. If the team of 10 seems so close, Kim says, it's because of the way it came together. After the 2004 U.S. team won bronze medals in the "team" and "duets" categories, all the members left. The current team was then built from the ground up, and hard work has paid off: The team finished third last year in the FINA World Trophy Cup. "We've climbed mountains together," Kim says. "We were all rookies in the beginning, and despite our different personalities and shapes and sizes, we've come together."

These Games will be especially memorable for Kim. After the opening ceremonies, the team will head to South Korea to train, and Kim will be able to visit the land where her parents and grandparents were born. "I feel so blessed to have two countries behind me, Korea and America," she says.

Her love of synchronized swimming began at age 9, when she first saw it performed. She was already a figure skater, dancer and gymnast. "But I looked at what was going on in the water, and it all looked so beautiful," she says. "It's a sport that demands all of the skills of the sports I had played -- only it adds an artistic quality that I love."

Kim's work ethic sets a standard, says Becky Jasontek, a member of the 2004 team. When Kim was younger, both swam for the esteemed Walnut Creek, Calif., Aquanuts club. "You knew she'd go places," says Jasontek, now living in Kansas City, Mo. "She always asked how she could get better."

Jasontek recommends fans watch this team's performance on the freestyle routine, which is when the swimmers are at their best. "You're going to see some of the highest lifts you've ever seen in the water, with lots of flips and turns and twists," she says.
-- Dennis McCafferty

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DECATHLON
1960 star Rafer Johnson sees 28-year-old as a gold-medal contender.

In looking at his sport today, legendary decathlete Rafer Johnson is amazed at how far the quality of equipment has come since he won Olympic gold in 1960 in Rome. Shoes are now custom-made for each athlete. The pole-vault pole is made out of fiberglass, not steel, allowing for greater flexibility. But what hasn't changed is this: the appeal of pure athleticism, as top performers get the absolute maximum out of their bodies in a suspenseful sequence of 10 grueling events.

This week, all eyes are on Bryan Clay. The 28-year-old native of Kaneohe, Hawaii, dominated at this summer's U.S. Olympic trials by breaking the previous Olympic trials record of Dan O'Brien, who won the gold in 1996. "The team is clearly very strong overall," says Johnson, who lit the Olympic flame during the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and remains a celebrated ambassador of U.S. track. "But Bryan is obviously someone who will contend for the gold. He's a tremendous athlete with lots of speed, and he's much stronger than people expect. I was watching the trials when they did the discus, and he set a new stadium record there. As it turns out, it happened to be my record."

Many consider the decathlon the ultimate athletic test. Participants compete over two days in the long jump, shot put, high jump, javelin, pole vault, discus, 110-meter hurdles and 100-, 400- and 1,500-meter runs. "The training and intensity is the same as it is for other track athletes," Clay says. "But our competition days are longer, and it can get quite grueling."

He'll face athletes like Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, the world record holder. "He's older now," Clay says. "But he's still a great athlete who has proven he can excel. You can't count him or other athletes out of it."

Changes in the sport surely enhance the performances, Johnson says. He would have liked to have had a chance to set records with those advantages. "We didn't have these paved surfaces you see now when I started out," Johnson says. "We ran on clay, and sometimes dirt. And when we did the pole vault, we landed in sawdust, not these nice landing pits they have now. It makes a big difference when it comes to wear and tear."

One thing that Clay will have to contend with that presents a disadvantage is China's smog and punishing heat and humidity. But the young athlete remains upbeat. "If you go in prepared for hot and muggy weather," he says, "you should be fine."
-- D.M.

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WRESTLING
Super-stoked grappler Steve Mocco has a champion rooting for him.

For Olympic super heavyweight freestyle wrestler Steve Mocco, the swollen right eye he got during the second round of the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials in June was just another small bump in the road on the way to his goal of making the Olympic team and winning a medal.

"Any pain I felt during the trials was nothing compared to the feeling of finally making the team and knowing that I was going to the Olympics," Mocco says. "It is almost impossible to describe, knowing you have a chance to represent your country and maybe stand on that podium with a medal around your neck."

The occasional cut, bruise or sore muscle is nothing new to the 26-year-old Mocco, who at 264 pounds has inflicted plenty more punishment on his opponents throughout his 20-year career. Wrestling since he was 6, Mocco was a four-time New Jersey state prep champion before going on to wrestle at the University of Iowa and Oklahoma State University, two wrestling powerhouses. In college, he compiled an impressive 85-match win streak and won two national titles, one with each school.

Mocco isn't singling out any competitors as his No. 1 competition, choosing instead to focus on each match one by one. "My hardest match is my first one, and then after I finish my first one, the second match is going to be the hardest," he says.

Mocco also has found a believer in four-time Olympic wrestling medalist Bruce Baumgartner, a fellow New Jersey native. Baumgartner thinks Mocco's medal dreams could be a reality this year, especially considering how the timing (three two-minute periods; the victor must win two of the three) and point system have changed. "The sport has become quicker and focused on power, which should help Steve," Baumgartner says. "It may be his first time at the Olympics, but he is an extremely solid wrestler who doesn't go down very easy." That and his balance and tremendous foot speed give Mocco "a chance to do something great."

Knowing that he has the potential to follow in Baumgartner's footsteps helps fuel Mocco. "My dad was a huge fan of Bruce, and I remember sitting at home watching his matches together," he says. "I dreamed about being able to do what he did."
-- T. J. Walter