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Byline: Vicki Michaelis, Special for USA TODAY In those very public yet somehow private moments with his mom at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps counted down his eight seminal [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis MONROVIA, Calif. û All the things that Kim Rhode collects come with a story. The first-edition children's books, the antique cars, the African masks and spears. And [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY A newspaper story pinned to a wall at the Oregon Fencing Alliance describes Mariel Zagunis winning her second Olympic saber title in the 2008 Beijing [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis Olympic taekwondo champion Steven Lopez had it down to a science. He pushed his body to unfathomable limits every day in training, driven by his older brother [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY For the last two years, Michael Phelps, by his own coach's estimation, has not been the world's best swimmer. His success in reclaiming that status [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis Brittany Viola is doing something in sport she says her famous father -- Frank, the 1988 American League Cy Young Award winner -- never would. While Frank [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis Jessica Hardy was here four years ago -- anticipating the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, feeling like she was in top condition. She qualified for the 2008 Summer [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Sarah Scherer rose through life and the elite shooting ranks shoulder to shoulder with her older brother, Stephen. They began with a BB gun they [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis Cullen Jones almost became a statistic. Now, he's a pioneer. At age 5, he nearly drowned at a water park when his inner tube flipped over at [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis Even on Mother's Day, Michael Phelps wasn't going to let his mom win this one. On a recent 60 Minutes, Debbie Phelps said she would like her [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis In February, at the first-ever U.S. Olympic trials for women's boxing, Claressa Shields was the tournament's youngest boxer. By the end -- after she won the 165-pound [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis Katelyn Falgowski made a fast rise through the field hockey ranks. In 2006, she became the youngest U.S. player to compete in the World Cup. In 2007, [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY COLORADO SPRINGSThe session starts genially enough, with a video presentation, some talk about becoming a Navy SEAL and a quick overview of the separating-men-from-boys 'Hell [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Before she arrived on campus, Brittney Griner promised Baylor coach Kim Mulkey she would win her another national championship. On Tuesday, she delivered. With an [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis DENVER ù College women's basketball's marquee player needed help from her supporting cast to get past Stanford on Sunday, but Brittney Griner and Baylor are headed to [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Mark Lopez recently walked into his parents' house dressed for his day job as a financial analyst. His sister, Diana, teased him. 'You know how [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY As Jean Lopez is proud to point out, only two countries -- South Korea and Taiwan -- have more Olympic taekwondo medals than the five [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Fifteen U.S. female weightlifters will compete Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, for two slots at the summer London Olympics. Katie Uhlaender enters the Olympic trials ranked [...]

Byline: Vicki MichaelisThe latest edition of USA TODAY's virtual medals table has the USA and China trading places at this summer's London Olympics.At the 2008 Beijing Games, China topped the [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAYTensions undoubtedly will be running high when the first U.S. Olympic trials for women's boxing begin Monday near Spokane, Wash.So don't be surprised if middleweight Franchon [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY A decade has passed since Apolo Anton Ohno, Derek Parra and Sarah Hughes took their golden turns on the Salt Lake City Olympic ice, since [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY In six months, the 2012 Summer Olympics open in London. There Missy Franklin, at 16 as precocious in the pool as teenaged Michael Phelps was, [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Sandi Leroux is wearing a specially designed shirt to the U.S. women's soccer games at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver this week, with her [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge started the Youth Olympic Games, for athletes ages 15-18, primarily to encourage children to be more active. It is [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY The U.S. women's soccer team won sports fans' hearts anew with its dramatic run to last summer's World Cup final. But the drama proved the [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis With the calendar officially turned to the London Olympic year, swimming teammates and rivals Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are poised to lead the U.S. medal charge [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY As would any coach, Hugh McCutcheon is going to the London Olympics to try to win gold for his team. As would any person who [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis At a time when many aspiring 2012 Olympians are focused solely on training for what they do best, Thomas Finchum has added some things to his schedule [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis When Hope Solo reported for her first U.S. women's soccer team training camp last week since her Hollywood-spotlight turn on Dancing With the Stars, she was back [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Their fans might not want to admit this, but the first three quarters of every Denver Broncos game have become a fine time to tend [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Denver fans might not want to admit this, but the first three quarters of every Broncos game have become a fine time to tend to [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis The success of the U.S. women's volleyball team in last month's FIVB World Cup gives the USA the edge in the gold medal count at next year's [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow once again mustered his last-minute magic, leading Denver (5-5) to a 17-13 victory against the New York Jets (5-5) on [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Early in the morning, late in the evening and seemingly every hour in between, Pedro's Judo Center hums with intensity. At any time, Jim Pedro [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis With world championships in all major Summer Olympics sports complete, the USA and China are in a near dead heat for medals dominance at the London Games, [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis A warning to runners in the New York City Marathon this Sunday: If you see Apolo Anton Ohno coming up on your right, you might want to [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Never mind the NFL standings. When the 1-4 Denver Broncos play at the 0-5 Miami Dolphins, a nation will be watching. Tebow Nation. For months, [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY The trees surrounding Walden Pond are letting go of their leaves. The beach on the pond's eastern edge holds just a smattering of visitors. The [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY The duels between swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Usain Bolt and their respective compatriots, Ryan Lochte and Yohan Blake, figure to be the top story [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY The comeback already was an ember glowing in Cael Sanderson's mind when some of his Penn State wrestlers issued a challenge in early March. If [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Team RadioShack's Levi Leipheimer led an all-American sweep of the podium in the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge, a seven-stage, 508-mile race that finished Sunday. [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY With Brigham Young football entering its first season as an independent, the school's marketing department produced a new rallying cry: 'Rise Up.' It might have [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Michelle Theriault, a 22-year-old synchronized swimmer, 'will do anything for my dream' to compete at the Olympics. So on a Wednesday night in a former [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Although the U.S. team led the world swimming championships with 29 overall medals, 16 of them gold, sustaining its usual Olympic dominance at next year's [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Everyone else might be counting up world championship medals and victories in trying to figure out whether Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte will rule the [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY While her friends at Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colo., likely are enjoying the lazy days of summer, Missy Franklin spent Thursday evening swimming [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are good enough friends that they team up during card games at swim meets and sing to the same music [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY On Sunday at the world swimming championships, the U.S. women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team nearly beat the defending world champion Netherlands, finishing second. Despite the [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Over the last three years, Michael Phelps innately knew he wasn't training as much as he should to maintain his invincibility. But not until he [...]

Byline: Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY Rebecca Soni, who successfully defended her world title in the 100-meter breaststroke Tuesday, is learning that less training can be more. After winning her first [...]