Leap
faithof
SOME ATHLETES ARE
born, not made. Their
gift was always there. “I
played all kinds of sports
when I was little, all the
way through high school,”
says Jesse Williams.
“You name it, I played it.
Football, basketball, base-
ball, soccer. Everything. I
wrestled in high school.”
PHOTOS COURTESY MITCHELL HAASETH/NBC OLYMPICS
But the 28-year-old Eugene,
Oregon, Costco member will be
going to the Olympics as a high
jumper, a passion he started to
focus on at the age of 12.
“Whatever sport I was in, I
knew at a young age I just had a
natural leaping ability,” he says. “I
knew with my leaping ability I had
the potential to be a good high-
jumper.… I just love going out and
testing my abilities to see how high
I actually can jump.”
Williams participated in the
2008 Olympics but did not make
the final round; however, he’s more
confident about his chances this
year. “I have jumped over 7 feet 9¼
inches,” he explains. “I won the
2011 World Championships,
so I will be the favorite to
win in London.”
He notes there are a
lot of track and field com-
petitions every year, but this
year only two matter. The first
was the Olympic trials. The
second? “I want to win
the Olympics,” he says.
Although his plans
include returning for at least
one more Olympics, at the
age of 32, this year is his focus.
“Right now, being at the age of 28,
with my mind and where it’s at and with
my physical attributes, really this is my
best shot … at winning the Olympics,
and I know that I have to do everything I
possibly can,” says Williams. “Because
there’s a chance I might never have
this opportunity again.”—Steve Fisher
Heavy
liftin g
YOU’D THINK THE hardest part about Sarah
Robles’ job as an Olympic-bound weight
lifter is exceeding her 258 kg (568.8-pound)
record (sum of two lifts). Not so, says
Robles, who, at 23, is aiming for a medal at
the Olympics this summer. “It’s overcoming
the stereotypes that come with being a
female weight lifter. A lot of people have
ideas about how you’re going to look and
act and dress. Basically, you have to over-
come those stereotypes every time you meet
a new person.”
Robles, whose manner is definitely more
sweet than tough, says she wants people to
regard her as an athlete and a woman, just
as they do women who play other sports.
This is not to say that Robles isn’t totally
dedicated to the art of lifting. She has been
the top female weight lifter in the United
States since 2010.
Water polo
ambassador
IT CAN BE said without exaggeration that
Brenda Villa has helped make women’s
water polo what it is today. Described as an
“ambassador of the sport,” she is the most
internationally decorated women’s water
polo player of the Olympic era. Now, at age
32, she’ll be captain of the team at her
fourth and final Olympics—and she will
have played every time women’s water polo
has appeared at the Olympic Games.
“I’ve kind of come full circle, so there’s
so much excitement,”
Villa says. “My first
Olympics [2000]
was the first for
women’s water
polo ever, and no
one thought we
[the U.S.] would be
there. It was kind of
a whirlwind. Now it’s
my last time, so I want
to make sure I have no
regrets and just play.”
Villa started her
sports career as a
swimmer, but
when she saw how
much fun her
older brother,
Edgar, was
having play-
ing water
polo, she
begged
her mother
to let her play. Only two years apart in
age, she and Edgar played on the same
team in high school since their school
didn’t have a separate team for girls. They
even won their section title together.
Growing up in Commerce, California,
Villa benefited from programs that helped
kids participate in sports they wouldn’t
have been able to afford on their own, and
she always saw sports as a ticket to the education her mom stressed so strongly. She
attended Stanford to play on its NCAA
team, and since graduating has co-founded
a nonprofit called Project 2020.
“Many of these kids rarely get to swim,”
she says. “Our goal is to give access and
teach water polo to underprivileged kids in
East Palo Alto and Menlo Park.”
Villa has two silver medals from 2000
and 2008, and a bronze from 2004. She’s
hoping 2012 will bring her the long-
awaited gold.—Elisabeth Handley
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