Beijing Olympics: Utah connections

   David Zabriskie, USA, cycling
   Born: Jan. 12, 1979, Salt Lake City.
    Local connection: Utah native
    Competition dates: Aug. 9 and 13
    David Zabriskie prides himself on not being serious. Unless he's racing his bicycle. Known for playful antics such as conducting absurdist interviews with fellow racers and growing a silly-looking mustache, the 29-year-old Olympus High School graduate has become one of the most feared cyclists in the world - a three-time national time-trial champion and the only American to win stages in all three of his sport's Grand Tours.
    He's one of only three Americans to lead the famed Tour de France, but feared he would miss his chance at competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics when he fractured a vertebrae in his back in a crash during the Tour of Italy in May. He missed the Tour de France, but healed just in time to return to training in the Park City area and convince USA Cycling officials to put him on the U.S. team.
    Though he missed valuable training time while recovering from the injury, Zabriskie believes he can contend for a medal in his time-trial specialty, though he also will compete in the road race in his first Olympics.
    - Michael C. Lewis
   
   Lindsey Anderson, USA, track and field
    Born: Born May 23, 1985 in Payson.
    Local connection: Utah native, WSU track
    Competition dates: Aug. 15 and 17
    Lindsey Anderson never thought she would make it this far. She figured she would finish her college career at Weber State, embark on a teaching career and perhaps start a family.
    Then, everything changed.
    After years as only a modest talent on the track, an association with new WSU coach Paul Pilkington helped transform the Morgan native into one of the women who will run at the Beijing Games the first women's steeplechase ever contested at the Olympics.
    Anderson had competed in track and cross country at Morgan High School - that's where she met her husband - but attracted scholarship offers from only Weber State and Southern Utah. She barely registered among the top runners in the Big Sky Conference during her first three college seasons.
    But with Pilkington's focus on training longer and harder, Anderson broke out during her senior season with the Wildcats last year. She set an NCAA record in her 3,000-meter race and competing at the national and world championships.
   
    Nik Arrhenius
    Sweden, track and field
    Born: Sept. 10, 1982 in Orem.
    Local connection: Utah native, BYU track
    Competition dates: Aug. 16 and 19
    Nobody ever doubted that Nik Arrhenius would reach the Olympics one day. Yet even he was surprised when he finally did.
    The 25-year-old discus-throwing prodigy who set a national high school record at Mountain View High School in Orem and won an NCAA championship at Brigham Young had not reached the top Olympic qualifying standard - despite desperately trying during a whirlwind competition tour that included nine meets in eight European nations in June.
    But track officials in Sweden rewarded the effort, anyway, surprising Arrhenius with a phone call saying he would be allowed to compete for his father's native country at the Beijing Olympics.
    Arrhenius had to verify the decision for himself on the Internet to believe it, but nobody else could have been surprised.
    The middle of three sons of a former collegiate All-American and international track star, Arrhenius had long seemed destined for athletic greatness, having started throwing the discus even before he learned the full technique when he was 11 years old.
   
    DARIA BIJAK
    Germany, gymnastics
    Born: Nov. 12, 1985 in Ratibor, Poland.
    Local connection: Utah gymnastics
    Competition dates: Aug. 9-19
    Daria Bijak already has known the disappointment of missing out on the Olympics - twice. Finally, she hopes to actually compete.
    The 22-year-old junior at the University of Utah earned the right to compete at the Beijing Games for her native Germany after finishing fourth in that country's national championships in June. Presuming she stays healthy - hardly a sure bet, for her - the achievement will fulfill a nearly lifelong goal.
    Having discovered her talent for the sport in kindergarten, Bijak might have qualified for the 2000 Sydney Games, but she was too young to compete. Then, the Germans did not qualify for the 2004 Athens Games, leaving Bijak to abandon her Olympic dream. Only as the Beijing Games drew closer following her eighth-place finish at the 2005 World Championships did she think she had one last shot, though few gymnasts reach the Olympics after entering college.
    Bijak had the additional challenge of a long injury history - her mother once pressured her to quit the sport - having endured knee and ankle problems in two seasons with the Utes.
   
    ANDREW BOGUT
    Australia, basketball
    Born: Nov. 28, 1984 in Melbourne, Australia
    Local connection: Utah basketball
    Competition dates: Aug. 10-24
    Bogut was one of the greatest players ever to pass through the University of Utah, and the only No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft that the Utes ever produced.
    Now, Andrew Bogut is focusing on the international game.
    The 7-foot center, who plays for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, has said a top-four finish is a realistic goal for his native Australia at the Beijing Games, even though the Boomers failed to advance out of pool play at the Athens Games four years ago. The Boomers finished 13th at the 2006 World Championships, though, suggesting they're getting better as Bogut continues to blossom.
    Unknown when then-Utah coach Rick Majerus and assistant Kerry Rupp began recruiting him at the Australian Institute for Sport about eight years ago, Bogut has grown into one of the most versatile big men in basketball, with passing skills befitting much smaller players.
    He memorably led the Utes to a 29-6 record and a trip to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament as a sophomore in 2005, before leaving school to enter the draft.
   
    CARLOS BOOZER
    USA, basketball
    Born: Nov. 20, 1981, on a military base in Aschaffenburg, Germany.
    Local connection: Utah Jazz
    Competition dates: Aug. 10-24
    Carlos Boozer has amends to make.
    The 26-year-old power forward for the Jazz was a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team that played at the Athens Games in Greece, and embarrassingly brought home only a bronze medal - prompting a complete revamping of USA Basketball.
    Boozer will get the opportunity despite not playing for Team USA in either of the past two summers, first because of injury, then because of his wife's pregnancy and the bone-marrow transplant his oldest son endured in his battle against sickle-cell anemia.
    But Boozer seems far more equipped to contribute, this time around. Not only has he shaken free of the injuries that plagued his early tenure with the Jazz, but he has developed into one of the best players in the NBA, having been a two-time All-Star and voted to the All-NBA third team last season. He figures to play a key reserve role behind expected starting forward Carmelo Anthony, and has a longtime relationship with coach Mike Krzyzewski, who mentored Boozer in college at Duke.
   
    MATT BROWN
    USA, baseball
    Born: Aug. 8, 1982, Bellevue, Wash.
    Local connection: Salt Lake Bees
    Competition dates: Aug. 13 to 23
    Matt Brown is considered one of the brightest prospects in the Anaheim Angels minor-league system, and he has been proving it all season with the Salt Lake Bees.
    No wonder he's going to the Beijing Olympics.
    The 26-year-old third baseman has been enjoying the best season of his career with the Bees, leading the team in hitting and earning a place at the annual Triple-A All-Star Game, where he fueled a six-run, game-winning rally in the ninth inning and was named player of the game.
    Baseball is being discontinued after Beijing, meaning Brown could become one of the last Americans to taste Olympic glory, perhaps in the same fashion as former Salt Lake Buzz first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, who won gold at the 2000 Sydney Games before the Americans shockingly failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Games in Greece.
   
    JAKE GIBB
    USA, beach volleyball
    Born: Feb. 6, 1976, Bountiful
    Local connection: Utah native
    Competition dates: Aug. 9-22
    Jake Gibb was a late bloomer.
    The 32-year-old Bountiful native did not take up beach volleyball until after returning from an LDS Church mission to Costa Rica, during which he grew 4 inches to 6-foot-7. If he had enjoyed that growth spurt earlier, he might have pursued his boyhood passion for basketball.
    Instead, Gibb is headed to the Beijing Olympics in a sport he never imagined he would play - beach volleyball.
    Only after failing to make the Bountiful High School basketball team did Gibb start fiddling around with volleyball, mostly with friends in his neighborhood. He started playing a lot when he returned from his mission, and soon found himself winning tournaments.
    Ultimately, he and his wife Jane moved to California with $1,600 between them so Gibb could try to succeed on the beach circuit. It took a couple of years and a new partner, but he did it, and now ranks among the best players in the world - and one of few Americans at this level who did not play volleyball in college.
   
    KEVIN JEPSEN
    USA, baseball
    Born: July 26, 1984, Anaheim, Calif.
    Local connection: Salt Lake Bees player
    Competition dates: Aug. 13-23
    Even after he'd been told, Kevin Jepsen could not believe he was going to the Beijing Olympics.
    After all, the hard-throwing right-handed relief pitcher for the Salt Lake Bees had never played internationally before, had just barely been called up to Triple-A, and had felt back to his old self for mere months after a long recovery from shoulder surgery.
    Yet Jepsen could be an integral part of the last U.S. baseball team to play in the Olympics.
    Baseball is being discontinued after Beijing, meaning this is the last chance for the Americans to prove themselves on the world stage after shockingly failing to qualify for the 2004 Athens Games in Greece. Judging by his performance in the minor leagues, Jepsen could be their closer.
    The 24-year-old Reno native has a blazing fastball that is finally back up near 100 mph after Jepsen spent some three years recovering from his surgery. At times, he feared his arm might never recover, but his season of a lifetime has shown that not to be true.
   
    ANDREI KIRILENKO
    Russia, basketball
    Born: Feb. 18, 1981, in Izhevsk, Russia.
    Local connection: Plays for the Utah Jazz
    Competition dates: Aug. 10 to Aug. 24
    He's one of the most famous athletes in his native country, and he already has represented it proudly in many international competitions.
    But the Jazz's Andrei Kirilenko knows more is expected at the Beijing Games.
    Eight years have passed since Kirilenko led the Russians to an eighth-place finish at the 2000 Sydney Games, where he led the tournament in steals despite being only 19 years old and speaking little English. Since then, he has blossomed into one of the best and most versatile players in the world - and a fluent English speaker - who helped Russia win the European Championships last summer after it failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Games. The Russians are ranked 16th in the latest FIBA ratings. Given his sometimes-tense relationship with the Jazz over his role as a supporting player, much attention will be paid to how Kirilenko plays as the focal point of his team, while the Jazz teammates to whom he often must defer, Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, are expected to play reserve roles with the U.S. team.
   
    RICH LAMBOURNE
    USA, volleyball
    Born: May 6, 1975 in Louisville, Ky.
    Local connection: Played for BYU
    Competition dates: Aug. 9-24
    Rich Lambourne needed a little more time to establish himself with the national team than former Brigham Young teammate Ryan Millar.
    But he's going to the Beijing Olympics, just the same.
    An outside hitter in college, the 33-year-old Lambourne is now a libero, the defensive and passing specialist who wears a different colored jersey than the rest of his teammates. But he's no less effective. Having helped the Cougars win their first of two national championships in 1999, he's been called the best passer on Team USA by coach Hugh McCutcheon, who also coached him and Millar at BYU.
    While Millar became an instant star on the national team after college, Lambourne needed to work his way up.
    Having quit playing baseball to take up volleyball so he could be with his friends growing up in California, Lambourne spent three years establishing himself before being named only an alternate for the 2004 Athens Games. But he has been an irreplaceable part of the lineup for the last four years - playing every match for the Americans since then.
   
    LEVI LEIPHEIMER
    USA, cycling
    Born: Oct. 24, 1973 in Butte, Mont.
    Local connection: Rowand Hall graduate University of Utah student
    Competition dates: Aug. 9
    Levi Leipheimer began cycling seriously as part of a training program for ski racing at the Rowmark Ski Academy at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School in Salt Lake City more than 20 years ago.
    Since then, the 34-year-old Montana native has grown into one of the most prominent American cyclists in history, winning the Dauphine Libere in 2006 and finishing third overall in the Tour de France in 2007 - the performance that automatically qualified him for the U.S. Olympic Team for the Beijing Games. He has finished in the top 10 of the Tour de France three times.
    He still works with Max Testa, a doctor and coach who has created with speedskating legend Eric Heiden a performance-enhancement program at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Murray.
    Leipheimer was the youngest member of the U.S. Cycling delegation to the 2004 Athens Games after being chosen as a replacement for Lance Armstrong. Leipheimer did not finish the road race in Athens, however, giving him an obvious goal in the road race in Beijing.
   
    JOSH McADAMS
    USA, track and field
    Born: March 26, 1980 in Atlanta, Ga.
    Local connection: Competed with the Brigham Young University track team
    Competition dates: Aug. 16 and 18
    Josh McAdams had never run the steeplechase until he arrived in Utah five years ago as a walk-on to the Brigham Young track team, and his first try was a disaster.
    But McAdams knew he had talent, so he stuck with it.
    Now, the 28-year-old Ohio native is headed to the Beijing Games as one of the nation's best steeplechasers. Though he finished third at the U.S. Olympic Trials to earn his spot on the team - the 3,000-meter race features hurdles and water jumps - McAdams was the national collegiate champion as a senior with the Cougars two years ago, then won the U.S. national title last year.
    Not bad, for a guy whose teammates used to tease him about the unusually thick and muscular legs he developed while wrestling in high school and delivering newspapers in deep snow during wintertime in his hometown near Cleveland.
    With a father and brother who were All-American wrestlers at BYU, McAdams has a muscular build that suggests he followed suit.
   
    RYAN MILLAR
    USA, volleyball
    Born: Jan. 22, 1978, San Dimas, Calif.
    Local connection: BYU alumnus
    Competition dates: Aug. 9-24
    The 30-year-old Highland resident and former Brigham Young All-American and coach is making his third Olympic appearance at the Beijing Games, hoping to cap his illustrious career with the medal that has so far eluded him.
    Fresh off a dazzling career with the Cougars that including a national championship, Millar was the youngest player for the U.S. at the 2000 Sydney Games, but the Americans failed to win a single match. At the 2004 Athens Games, they finished fourth.
    But now, with Millar teaming up with fellow former Cougar libero Rich Lambourne and former BYU coach Hugh McCutcheon - head coach of Team USA - he has a chance to finally step onto the medal stand.
    The Americans are ranked third in the world, in the latest rankings. Millar has become one of the veteran leaders of the team, acting as a part-time captain last year while earning indoor player of the year honors. At 6-foot-8, he's one of the most dominating middle blockers in the world, obviously coming a long way from when he took up the sport in eighth grade after his brother began playing in high school.
   
    CHRIS SEITZ
    USA, soccer
    Born: March 12, 1987, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
    Local connection: Real Salt Lake goalkeeper
    Competition dates: Aug. 7-24
    Local fans might not recognize him, considering he seldom plays for Real Salt Lake.
    But Chris Seitz is among the most promising goalkeepers in the country.
    Once denied a place on his local youth club unless he agreed to be the back-up keeper, the 21-year-old has blossomed to the point that he will compete for time in goal behind presumptive over-age starter Brad Guzan at the Beijing Olympics. And if Guzan wobbles at all, expect Seitz to get a shot, after impressing as the starter at both the Under-20 World Cup last summer and the Olympic qualifying tournament earlier this year.
    Seitz came to RSL as the No. 4 pick of the 2007 Major League Soccer SuperDraft - the highest goalkeeper ever chosen, except for Guzan two years earlier. But he has been stuck behind starter Nick Rimando, playing only three league games since coming to Utah.
    Still, Seitz has enjoyed considerable international experience in that span, helping continue his rise to the top of his sport. Many see the former Maryland All-American as the next superstar American goalkeeper.
   
    JOEL SILVA
    Venezuela, volleyball
    Born: Sept. 14, 1985, San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela.
    Local connection: BYU alumnus
    Competition dates: Aug. 9-24
    He has been honored in his nation's capital as a guest of president Hugo Chavez. That's how big a deal it was for Silva and his teammates on the Venezuelan national team to reach the Olympics. Only three teams in the nation's history had ever done that.
    But now the 6-foot-2 starting libero for the Brigham Young Cougars faces a tough task - a group comprised almost entirely of higher-ranked teams in the preliminary stages of the Beijing Games.
    His first match will come against his former coach at BYU, three-time Olympian Ryan Millar.
    Nonetheless, the experience represents a great accomplishment for a player who initially struggled to find a collegiate home in the United States, in part because his command of English was lacking.
    Eventually, though, he enrolled at a small school in Missouri where he improved his academic and language skills, and turned toward BYU, having seen the Cougs win national championships on television.
    Born: May 25, 1981, Napa, Calif.
    Local connection: Highland High alumna
    Competition dates: Aug. 9-23
    She doesn't get back to town much anymore, but Logan Tom remains one of the most accomplished athletes the state of Utah has ever helped produce.
    The 27-year-old volleyball star was a two-time state champion and valedictorian at Highland High School who was named the national player of the year as a senior and a four-time All-American at Stanford. She also won a national title for the Cardinal, while also becoming the youngest woman ever to play for Team USA at an Olympics when she made her debut at the Sydney Games at age 19.
    Her illustrious career took a turn after a disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2004 Athens Games, and Tom turned to beach volleyball during the offseason from her professional indoor career in Europe. She figured if she ever returned to the Olympics, it would be on the beach.
    But she didn't fare as well as she had hoped on the sand, and decided to return to the indoor national team after it hired a new coach in "Jenny" Lang Ping, the legendary former player for China. Tom remains one of the most powerful forces on the team, having led the team in scoring during its Olympic qualifying tournament.
   
    ZUZANA TOMAS
    Slovakia, track and field
    Born: Feb. 2, 1977, Brezno, Slovakia.
    Local connection: Lives in Salt Lake City
    Competition dates: Aug. 17
    The joke in her family is that Zuzana Tomas had to come all the way to America from her native Slovakia to marry a Serbian.
    But she also came to reach the Olympics.
    A doctoral student and teaching assistant at the University of Utah who emigrated from her native country to run in college and pursue a teaching career, the 31-year-old began running marathons after moving to Salt Lake City six years ago, and now will run the women's marathon at the Beijing Games - 20 years after watching the race at the Seoul Olympics and thinking she could be good at it.
    Tomas had not reached the top qualifying standard for the race, so it was up to officials in Slovakia whether to select her to compete in Beijing. Having been in the same position before the 2004 Athens Games and denied the chance to compete, she feared the same thing would happen again.
    But about three weeks before the opening ceremony, she received an e-mail with the unexpectedly good news.
    Tomas knows she will not win a medal, but takes great pride in her running accomplishment.
   
    DERON WILLIAMS
    USA, basketball
    Born: June 26, 1984, Parkersburg, West Virginia
    Local connection:Utah Jazz point guard
    Competition dates: Aug. 10-24
    Earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team might have seemed impossible for Deron Williams, just a couple of years ago.
    But since joining the Jazz as the No. 3 pick of the NBA Draft, he has exploded into one of the best young point guards in the game, and one of two - along with rival Chris Paul of New Orleans - who figure to back up veteran Jason Kidd at the Beijing Games.
    Williams recalls watching his hero Kidd while growing up in Texas, where he was a better wrestler than basketball player in his early years. Perhaps that explains the toughness that has become his trademark, and no doubt helped him earn his spot under a coach - Duke's Mike Krzyzewski - who believes that physical play at point guard will be a key to Team USA's success in China.
    As late as last year, Williams was not in the pool of players that USA Basketball was considering for the Olympic team. But after several others were injured, he was added to the pool and dazzled at an Olympic qualifying tournament last summer.