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1. Don’t let challenges interfere with you reaching your goals

   Yao Ming was the basketball all-star for China in 2008 Olympics, but was put into doubt when he broke his foot in February. Yao’s response “If I cannot play in the Olympics for my country this time, it will be the biggest loss in my career to right now.” Yao Ming then worked diligently to rehabilitate, to heal, and to prepare. He was a great asset to the Chinese Olympic team.

1. Team work

   Individual talent doesn’t count in team sports if there is no cohesiveness. The 2004 Olympics was a disaster for Team USA basketball team, despite having many talented NBA players on the court. This year’s team USA is quite different as Coach Mike Krzyzewski chose a group that showed their strength in the 101-70 opening game with China. A successful team has players that complement each other rather than selflessly exhibiting their own talents. If there is no team dynamic that team will not be on the podium.

Baseball

This is the initial 23-man 2008 U.S. Olympic Team roster:

Venues schedule

Archery

Brady Ellison is the youngest athlete, at age 20, to compete in this year’s US Olympic archery team.

Richard “Butch” Johnson has accumulated 46 national championships, two IPAA World Championships and won the gold medal in 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He said he is proud of his own determination and control under pressure.

Khatuna Lorig will make her fourth Olympic appearance. She has won numerous medals including the Bronze medal in 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

Jennifer Nichols This is her second Olympic appearance. In 2004, she was the youngest Olympic member of Olympic team in any sport.

Much preparation is needed on the athletes and coaches as well. These are three areas that Olympic coaches have found to be important:

1. Believing in the athletes

   Coaches must help prepare athletes physically and mentally for competition. However, they must also trust and believe in their athletes. Ryan Davenport (coach of the US skeleton sledding team) once said, ” An idealistic coach might like to think that people are working out of a sense of purpose or duty, but I’m sure that most athletes are putting in the effort in order to get the reward.”