American Record Holders Dominate Team USA's Womens Distance Lineup

Team USA's Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher, Deena Kastor, Anna Willard and Jenny Barringer are a few of the standout women's middle and long distance runners to watch for at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Included in the middle- and long-distance crew are five Olympians, one Olympic medalist and three American record holders.

800 Meters

Three-time Olympian and Olympic Trials champion Hazel Clark (Knoxville, Tenn.) will be looking for a spot on the medal stand, having finished seventh at the 2000 Olympic Games. Clark currently holds the top U.S. time in the 800m at 1:59.82, which she first ran at the Ponce Grand Prix in May and repeated at the Olympic Trials in June.

Olympic Trials runner-up and 2006 USA Indoor champion Alice Schmidt (Chula Vista, Calif.) will be making Olympic debut after finishing second at the Olympic Trials in 2:00.46. Schmidt has the second-fastest U.S. 800m time this year of 2:00.01, which earned her a second place finish at the Nike Prefontaine Classic in June.

2004 Olympian Nicole Teter (Eugene, Ore.) gained a spot on the Olympic Team after third-place finisher Kameisha Bennett did not meet the Olympic "A" standard. Teter, who finished fourth at the Trials, was the 2002 USA Outdoor champion and is the American record holder indoors.

1,500 Meters

Olympic Trials champion and U.S. Indoor champion Shannon Rowbury (San Francisco) joins her first Olympic roster a year after graduating from Duke University. Rowbury has the fastest 1,500m time in the U.S. and the fourth fastest time in the world this year of 4 minutes 0.33 seconds, which she posted at the Paris Grand Prix in mid-July. For a time earlier this season, Rowbury held the fastest mark in the world for the year of 4:01.06, which she ran at the adidas Track Classic in May. She entered the Olympic Trials as the favorite and despite adverse wind conditions posted a time of 4:05.48. While at Duke, Rowbury was the 2007 NCAA Indoor mile champion and 3,000m runner-up, but was not able to compete during the 2007 outdoor season due to a stress fracture.

Olympic Trials runner-up and four-time NCAA All-American Erin Donohue (Haddonfield, N.J.) will join Rowbury the 1,500 after posting a time of 4:08.20 at the Trials. U.S. Indoor champion Christin Wurth-Thomas (Springdale, Ark.) will round out the ladies 1,500m runners. Wurth-Thomas won the 1,500m at the 2005 Nike Prefontaine Classic, and she posted a personal best in 2006 of 4:05.00.

5,000/10,000 Meters

Shalane Flanagan (Pittsboro, N.C.) will compete in both events in which she holds the American record, the 5,000 and 10,000m. In the first final of the Olympic Trials, she won the 10,000m in 31:34.81, a Hayward Field record. She was third in the 5,000. Flanagan holds the American record in the 10,000m with her time of 30:34.49, which she ran in May at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, and in the 5,000 with her time of 14:44.80 from the 2007 Mt. SAC Relays 2007.

Olympic Trials 5,000m champion and 10,000m runner-up Kara Goucher (Portland, Ore.) also will represent the United States in both events. At the 2007 World Outdoor Championships, Goucher proved herself competitive on an international stage, winning the 10,000m bronze medal in 32:2.05.

Olympic Trials 5,000m runner-up Jennifer Rhines (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) will compete in her third different event in her third go-round at the Olympic Games. She ran the marathon at the 2004 Olympic Games and the 10,000m at the 2000 Olympics. Rhines, who is focusing on shorter distances since the 2004 Olympics, set personal records in the 5,000m and 10,000m in 2007 (4:09.52, 31:17.31) and currently has the fastest American 5,000m this year of 14:54.29, which she set at the Oslo Grand Prix in June.

Amy Yoder Begley (Beaverton, Ore.) will participate in her first Olympic Games after fighting tooth and nail for the Olympic "A" standard at the Olympic Trials. Yoder Begley, who lacked the standard coming into the Trials, finished third in 31:43.60, making the "A" standard with just over a second to spare and setting a new personal record.

Marathon

Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) has had the most success of any current U.S. distance runner in international competition. The 2004 Olympic bronze medalist in the marathon, she holds the American record with her time of 2:19:36, run en route to winning the 2006 London Flora marathon. She is a two-time silver medalist at the World Cross Country Championships.

U.S. Olympic Trials - Women's Marathon runner-up Magdalena Lewy Boulet (Oakland Calif.) will be making her first appearance at the Olympic Games. Sworn in as a U.S. citizen on September 1, 2001, Lewy Boulet set a personal record at the Trials with her finish of 2:30:19. Blake Russell (Pacific Grove, Calif.) made her first Olympic Team after finishing a heartbreaking fourth at the 2004 Olympic Trials. She fought of pain and fatigue to hold the third place position and claim the spot she was denied four years earlier.

3,000 Meter Steeplechase

The women's steeple is being contested for the first time at the Olympic Games. Olympic Trials champion Anna Willard (Ann Arbor, Mich.) broke the American record with her performance of 9 minutes 27.59 seconds at the Trials, since bettered by Jenny Barringer.

Lindsey Anderson (Ogden, Utah) made waves with her second-place finish at the Trials as she improved her personal best by more than nine seconds (9:30.75).

American Record holder and University of Colorado senior Jenny Barringer (Boulder, Colo.) finished third at the Olympic Trials but broke Anna Willard's previous AR by nearly five seconds at Heusden, running 9:22.73, a mere 17 days after Willard set the record at the Trials.

20 kilometer Race Walk

Joanne Dow (Manchester, N.H.) finished first in the women's 20 km Race Walk at the 2008 Olympic Trials in her fourth attempt to make the U.S. Olympic team. Dow, who at 44 is the oldest member of the track and field roster is a four-time USA outdoor champion and five-time USA indoor champion.

For more information on Team USA at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing; visit www.usatf.org.