by Jeff Gordon

Others, like diver Troy Dumais, are seeking their first Olympic medal to cap off great careers.

Then there are the new faces, like breakout sprinter Tyson Gay — who seems primed to challenge Asafa Powell and the rest of the world's fastest men in Beijing in '08.

Here are 10 U.S. athletes we will be talking about one year from today:

Michael Phelps, Swimming

Barring injury, Phelps will turn this competition into his private pool party. He won eight medals at the 2004 Summer Games — six of them gold — and just kept going.

Phelps, 22, won seven gold medals at the FINA World Championships in March and he currently owns five world records. He is piling up commercial endorsements and he figures to become the face of the U.S. Olympic team in China.

"A buddy of mine actually read of me being in the names Tiger Woods and Roger Federer," Phelps said earlier this year. "That is a pretty big accomplishment and definitely something I'm proud of. They have changed their sports themselves and hopefully I can do the same in swimming."

Sanya Richards, Track and Field

The Jamaican-born Richards moved to the U.S. at 12 and became an American citizen in 2002. The U.S. track team was thrilled to get her — since she earned Olympic gold two years later as a member of the 4x400 relay team.

Last year Richards, 22, was undefeated in world competition at 400 meters. She should be one of many University of Texas products representing the U.S. in China.

"I'm just very competitive and I hate to be in an environment where someone else is doing so much better than me," Richards said last year. "In class it's the same thing. If somebody else can get an A, I know I can get an A, as well.

"I want to win the World Championship gold medal and the Olympic gold medal. I'm hoping that I can do it in the 200 and the 400. I want to eventually be the best in the two and the four."

Troy Dumais, Diving

His competitive resume is dazzling: 54 national titles, 24 international titles and seven NCAA individual titles. He is a 12-time collegiate All-American, a four-time high school All-American and a two-time USA Diving Athlete of the Year.

But Dumais, 27, came up empty in the previous two Olympics — finishing sixth twice in the 3-meter springboard event and finishing fourth and sixth in the 3-meter synchronized event. These days the former Texas star trains in Austin with single-minded focus.

"It is a gold-or-go-home-type mentality," Dumais told the Ventura County Star. "There is no wanting to win. If you go there just to medal that shows there is a little bit of doubt, and I am not training as hard as possible to get third."

Candace Parker, Basketball

The U.S. men's basketball "Dream Team" will get more attention in China, especially if LeBron James leads the charge back toward Olympic glory. He was among the NBA stars that settled for a bronze medal at Athens.

	Countdown: One Year to Beijing
Gordon: 10 athletes to watch

But Parker, 21, could become a media darling by leading the U.S. women to gold. She is big (6-foot-5), highly skilled and charismatic.

She made news as the first woman to throw down dunk shots in college games. She led the University of Tennessee to the national title. She earned some crossover fame by making People Magazine's100 Most Beautiful People list.

(Sorry, guys, but she is engaged to Shelden Williams of the Atlanta Hawks.)

"I feel that, just being young, I bring energy," she said earlier this year. "Not having had that experience before and wanting to make the Olympic team, different things like that, along with the energy. I learned a lot from this past year. I feel that my overall game improved last year playing with the USA National Team. I'm getting stronger, I have energy, and I also bring rebounding and running up and down the floor."

Tyson Gay, Track and Field

The former University of Arkansas star burst on the world scene last year, then followed up with a series of major 100-meter and 200-meter victories this year. Gay, 24, is right on the heels of the world's No. 1 sprinter, Asafa Powell of Jamaica.

"I am really working hard and I am sure Asafa wants more competition," Powell said during a news conference earlier this year in Philadelphia. "I want this to be a rivalry. I want to step up to the plate."

So far, anyway, their rivalry has been civil. "I don't know if I'd say he was a friend, but we speak and we joke around," Gay said. "I really respect him as an athlete and as a person. He carries himself in a very humble way."

Christina Jones, Synchronized Swimming

Like most young athletes, Jones competed in a variety of sports growing up in Fremont, Calif. She played soccer and swam. He dabbled in ice skating, took a stab at gymnastics and sampled various forms of dance.

The sport that stuck, though, was synchronized swimming. She got hooked as a 6-year-old while watching the Santa Clara Aquamaids perform.

Last year she earned U.S. Synchronized Swimming Athlete of the Year honors. Jones, 19, and duet partner Andrea Nott, 25, competed in the Pan-American Games in July. They were also the first two women selected to represent the U.S. in Beijing.

"I'm going to take each day and improve on something each day," she told usolympicteam.com. "I've got a while. I'm going to try to be my absolute best that I can be over there. I really want to start to swim routines that are way different and out of the box from any of the other competitors in the Olympics. I really want to do something that will stand out to the audience, that will stand out to the judges and hopefully we can be remembered for."

Donny Pritzlaff, Wrestling

In a sport dominated by Eastern Europeans, Pritzlaff, 28, won the bronze medal at 163 pounds at the World Championships.

That was an upset. So was his victory over Joe Williams in the U.S. Nationals; Williams hadn't lost to an American in six years.

Pritzlaff, an assistant wrestling coach at Wisconsin and a two-time NCAA champion, became one of the feel-good stories in his sport.

"I think my wife (Robin) was more excited than I was after I won," Pritzlaff said afterward. "She yelled out 'finally' after I won. She thought maybe she was the jinx that held me back, but that's not true at all. I've sacrificed a lot of time with my family to train and compete, but she's real supportive of what I do."

Cat Osterman, Softball

This sport was eliminated from the 2012 Olympics, so the '08 U.S. team will want to make its last stand memorable. Heading the staff of shutdown pitchers will be Osterman, the youngest non-alternate on the 2004 Gold-medal winning team.

At the University of Texas, she was the first three-time USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. Osterman, 24, set the NCAA career strikeout record of 2,265 (since broken by Tennessee star Monica Abbott) and threw 85 shutouts.

"There's nothing I'm not competitive with," Osterman told the National Pro Fastpitch web site. "Even if I'm playing Frisbee golf in Houston, I'm mad if I'm losing. I have this internal drive to be successful. No matter what I do, I want to do it all out. One thing my coaches will tell you is that my work ethic is off the charts."

Rau' Shee Warren, Boxing

At the 2004 Olympics, 17-year-old "Nuke" Warren was the youngest male athlete in the U.S. contingent. After losing his opening bout, he became the first Olympic boxer since 1992 to return to the amateur ranks.

Next year the Cincinnati native could become the first boxer in more than 30 years to represent the U.S. in two Summer Games.

He fought at 106 pounds in '04, then moved up to fight at flyweight and bantamweight the next three years. Warren, 20, has won the last three U.S. flyweight titles — gaining the last one in June when Aaron Alafa bowed out of the title bout because of injury.

"Basically, it just rolls off my back because I'll see him at the (Olympic trial) box-offs," Warren said. "He can't dodge that."

Jana Bieger, Gymnastics

It appears Americans have a new pixie to rally around. Bieger, a native of Kiel, Germany, won the silver medal competing for the U.S. at the 2006 World Championship.

"It was wonderful just being out there and representing the United States," she said at the time. "I was having so much fun, especially on my floor routine. Before floor, I just thought to myself, ‘This is it. Do it the best you can. Go out and hit your floor routine, and what happens, happens.'"

Bieger, 17, will know how to prepare for Olympic competition. Her mother Andrea was a three-time Olympian for West Germany and she develops young champions at Bieger International Gymnastics in Deerfield Beach, Fla.