Olympics
10 women to watch in Athens

AP Ana Guevara of Mexico is the favorite in the 400.

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Ana Guevara, Mexico, Track and Field

In Sydney, she was one of those other people — all the rest of the runners in the world who became historical footnotes to Aussie superstar Cathy Freeman's magical victory in the 400 meters. Ana Guevara of Mexico finished fifth in that race, barely a second behind. But the 27-year-old reigning world champion, an icon in her homeland, will be looking for nothing short of gold in Athens. Guevara's three-year, 30-race unbeaten streak in the event was snapped in Rome last month when she finished second to Tonique Williams of the Bahamas. But she insists the medal stand in Athens will be her true prize: "My best comes in August in Athens, not before," she vowed.

Jennie Finch, USA, Softball

A lot of people already have her penciled in as the Athens Games' poster girl. Blazing fastpitch hurler Jennie Finch, 23, is known in the United States as much for her looks — she was listed among People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" — as her 72-mph underhand fastball, which has struck out a long list of notable athletes, including major-league baseball stars. But when she's on the field, Finch, a former Arizona star who is engaged to Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Casey Daigle, is all business. She's the No. 2 pitcher on a U.S. squad (behind veteran Lisa Fernandez) that goes to Athens after completing a 53-game pre-Olympic-tour sweep. Team USA, winners of the only two gold medals awarded in women's softball and ranked first in the world for 18 years, will be challenged in Athens by Japan and China, among others.

Birgit Fischer, Germany, Flatwater kayak

Weekend warriors of the world proclaiming themselves unfit for duty at age 40 might take a gander at Birgit Fischer. Germany's most-decorated Olympian is 42. She's the mother of two. She holds 10 Olympic medals — seven golds — from five different Olympics spanning 20 years. And she's back from temporary retirement for her sixth Games in Athens, where she once again will be a medal favorite in the pairs and fours 500-meter flatwater kayak races. Fischer is the only woman to medal 20 years apart, and her astonishing medal count might be even higher if her country at the time, East Germany, had not boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games. She is one of five athletes to take gold medals at five different Olympics.

Mia Hamm, USA, Soccer

For Mia Hamm, the Athens' women's soccer tourney will be a final, sweet goodbye. Hamm, 32, the most prolific soccer scorer of all time, announced her pending retirement before the Games. She'll end her brilliant 17-year career with an uphill struggle to reclaim world soccer supremacy for the United States. After losing the 2000 Olympic final in sudden-death overtime to Norway and being bounced from the 2003 World Cup by eventual champion Germany, America's women footballers hope to use the Olympic stage to regain the star power they achieved by winning the World Cup at home in 1999. Either way, it's the end for Hamm, who says it's time to pass the torch to younger players. She'll leave a spectacular legacy — two World Cup titles, 150 goals in international competition and sports-icon status in America.

Lauren Jackson, Australia, Women's basketball
 
Seattle roundball fans need no introduction to Lauren Jackson, the reigning MVP of the WNBA, which takes a month-long leave to allow its top players to compete for their home nations. For Jackson, that's Australia, for whom she hopes to repeat her stellar performance at the 2000 Sydney Games, where she led the Opals to the silver medal. That Olympic tourney included a memorable matchup against America's Lisa Leslie: Jackson yanked out Leslie's hair extension. In her brief-but-spectacular career in the States, Jackson has grown quickly into the WNBA's most dominant player, averaging 20.6 points for the Storm this season. Another Games medal would only add to the luster of Jackson's blossoming career. With her name verging on "household" after her MVP season — and a few nude poses for Black + White, an Aussie art photo magazine that has become a hot item in America — Jackson is being marketed as a unique global sports superstar, with multiple heavy-duty endorsement deals in the works.

Marion Jones, United States, Track and Field

Whether she's in top form, as she was in Sydney, or struggling, as she has been leading up to Athens, Marion Jones always manages to top the headlines. Jones, 28, of Raleigh, N.C., dominated news from Australia for her on- and off-the track activities, winning five medals and defending her then-husband, C.J. Hunter, from doping charges. A lot can change in four years. For Athens, Jones has qualified to compete only in the long jump. Her ex-husband, Hunter, told federal investigators that Jones was using illegal steroids in Sydney. And Jones and her current partner, 100-meter world-record sprinter Tim Montgomery, both are implicated in the ongoing BALCO designer-steroid scandal. Jones steadfastly denies any involvement. Ironically, Jones could yet earn a spot in the 100 meters — which she won in Sydney — if teammate Torri Edwards is bounced for her own doping violation.

Svetlana Khorkina, Russia, Gymnastics

You could call her the Anna Kournikova of gymnastics — except Anna in her wildest dreams could never do on the court what Svetlana Khorkina does in gymnastics. The 25-year-old Russian gymnastics starlet, who bears some resemblance to actress Uma Thurman, is too old, too tall and too many other things to be winning gymnastics world championships. Don't tell her: She's the only gymnast in history to win the all-around world championship gold medal three times. In Athens, the Russian pop icon (she has graced Russian men's magazines and theatrical stages) will seek the one title she's never claimed — the Olympic all-around gold. Short of that, other history awaits: If she successfully defends her Sydney Games gold on the uneven bars, she will be the first in decades to win the same gymnastic event at three Olympics. Expect these to be her final Games.

Lisa Leslie, USA, Women's basketball

The other half of that notable Sydney Games hair-pulling incident will have some serious things to say about the bottom line — who takes home the Athens gold medal. Leslie, 32, of Los Angeles, has what may be the most impressive international basketball résumé of all time. Leslie is the all-time leading Olympics scorer for the United States, owner of two consecutive gold medals; her 35-point game against Japan in 1996 remains the single-game American record. At home, the former USC and current Los Angeles Sparks center is a five-time WNBA All-Star, a past MVP, and the league's career points leader. She also is the first woman to dunk in a WNBA game.

Paula Radcliffe, Great Britain, Track and Field

Paula Radcliffe has been close enough to the Olympic finish line to smell a medal — twice, finishing fourth in the 10,000 meters at Sydney and fifth in the 5,000 meters in Atlanta. So for Athens, the woman who is the world's fastest female marathoner as well as one of its fastest 10,000-meter runners, will put all her eggs in the 26-mile basket. Radcliffe, 30, Britain's best hope for a track-and-field gold medal, reportedly has been racking up as many as 160 miles a week at a high-altitude training camp in the Pyrenees for the historic Greek race. The only thing she lacks in the marathon is experience: Radcliffe ran her first international marathon only two years ago, but set the world record in the event in Chicago six months later. Her stellar times — she also is near world-record pace in the 10,000 — have spurred rumors of doping. She has denied them, even offering to have blood samples preserved for later, more-advanced testing.

Jenny Thompson, USA, Swimming

Athens will be the last chance for Jenny Thompson, one of America's all-time great Olympians, to grasp what's always eluded her — a gold medal in an individual swimming event. Thompson, 31, who is completing her medical residency at Columbia in New York, already holds 10 Olympic medals from three separate Games — including eight golds. But each of those has come in a relay event. Thompson will have to drop some time in her best event, the 100 butterfly, to accomplish the feat in Athens. She's also qualified for the 50-meter freestyle, and is in the 400 freestyle relay pool. Even with no more medals in Athens, the former Stanford star likely will retire as America's all-time most-decorated female Olympic athlete: Her eight gold medals are three ahead of speed skater Bonnie Blair, and no one else is close. With some luck, she might become the most-medaled American ever, male or female: Her 10 overall medals going into the Athens Games are second only to American swimmers Matt Biondi and Mark Spitz, each with 11.

Compiled by Ron Judd from

The Associated Press, Reuters and nbcolympics.com.