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Inge "The Body" de Bruijn, Dutch superstar swimmer

Sweden, international soccer player and Olympian. Below Carin Koch (below), Sweden, golf. She plays mainly on the LPGSA tour.

Therese Alshammer, Sweden, swimmer diva.

Merlene Ottey, Jamaica and Slovenia, sprint star and world record breaker. Still running at 48, Ottey says: "I didn't think I'd still be here 28 years later. The first time I was aware of the Olympics was 1976. I listened to it on radio; I didn't have a TV. I wanted to know, 'What is all this fuss about?' And they told me Jamaica was winning. I said, 'Oh great, I want to be in the next Olympics.' "

Cheryl Taplin, U.S.A., retired sprinter. At the end of 2000, Taplin walked away from running. She had torn an Achilles tendon next to her heel, and the recovery was slow. She was low on money.

She left track and field because of what others were doing at her expense. Performance-enhancing drugs were in widespread use by her fellow athletes.

"It was very unfair," Taplin said. "That's the part that was so aggravating because of all the work I was putting in with training and the mental part -- and the mental part was as hard as the physical part. To a certain extent, you knew who was (using drugs) or had an idea. For the most part, a lot of my friends that I was really close with, we all kind of stopped (competing) around the same time... It was out of hand. We just couldn't take it any more." Taplin came home.

Inger Miller, U.S.A., sprint star. Commenting on the drugs scandal surrounding former rival Marion Jones, Miller said: "I'm happy that she has turned the medals over, and there was no fight for it or anything like that," said Inger Miller. At least she's woman enough to stand up and say the truth and do what's right."

Anna Willard, U.S.A., steeplechaser. Speaking of the mileage needed to be a top competitive college runner, she says: "I increased five to ten miles every year at Brown. I was 50 to 55 freshman year, 55 to 60 sophomore year, junior year up to 65, and senior year 70 to 75. This fall, I didn't go over 82 to 83. I probably stayed 75 to 80. Of course, I'd take a day off every two or three weeks, so sometimes I'd have a low week. I don't like to focus on the number too much. I tried to see how my body was feeling, which I didn't actually do the best job at. I had an Achilles problem. I had to take four weeks off. Thinking about it now, actually, it was probably a really good thing. I got to take a little time off and that pushes my season a little farther back right now."

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: Jennie Finch, softball. Finch had a 2 - 0 win-loss record in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, striking out 13 batters in eight innings while giving up only one hit, one walk and no runs. Her pitching helped lead the American team to the gold medal.

Misty May-Treanor and teammate Kerri Walsh won gold in beach volleyball at both the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. They have been called "the greatest beach volleyball team of all time".