Her-stories: What you may not know about U.S. Olympians

The Olympic Games produce some of the best moments in sports, and some of the best personal stories as well. Here are some intriguing tidbits from the NBC Sports website about female athletes who are representing the United States in Beijing over the next two weeks.

My favorite is about marathoner Deena Kastor, who captured the Chicago Marathon in 2005 to become the first American to do so in 11 years. In 2000, while Kastor ran in the World Cross-Country Championships in Portugal, a bee flew into her mouth about 50 meters into the race and promptly stung the back of her throat. Kastor spit out the bee and still maintained a lead for the first half of the race before her throat closed up and she passed out.

Marathoner Magdalena Lewy Boulet, who was born in Poland, received U.S. citizenship in 2001 and was to attend a ceremony at a federal building in San Francisco on Sept. 11. The festivities were cut short when the building was evacuated in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States that day.

Sprinter Hazel Clark (800 meters), a three-time Olympian, isn't the only celebrity in her family. Her sister-in-law, Jearl Miles-Clark, and her half-sister, Joetta Clark Diggs, went to the Olympics in track a combined nine times. Clark's father, Joe, inspired the 1989 movie "Lean On Me," which starred Morgan Freeman and is about a tough-minded principal at a New Jersey high school.

Pole vaulter April Steiner-Bennett was a contestant on "Fear Factor" in 2004 and showed no fear. She won $50,000 after eating worm "green beans," maggot "mashed potatoes," and roach "stuffing." She pledged her winnings would be applied to her Olympic training.

Pole vaulter Erica Bartolina has been blind in her right eye since she was in a car accident when she was 4 months old. The car she was in was rear-ended, which sent some scissors on the dashboard flying into her eye.

Softball second baseman Lovieanne Jung is named after the millionaire wife on the classic TV show "Gilligan's Island," Lovie Howell. Jung's boyfriend is former White Sox pitcher Jon Garland.

Volleyball outside hitter Kim Glass tried out for Tyra Banks' "America's Next Top Model" show five times while she was in college.

The most decorated indoor volleyball player, Logan Tom, comes from good stock. Her dad, Melvyn, played defensive end for the Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles from 1967 to 1975.

Brittany Hayes, an attacker for the water polo team, is a distant relative of Rutherford B. Hayes, our 19th President.

Christine Magnuson grew up swimming for the Tinley Park Sharks swim club. Her father Bill, who swam at Southern Illinois, is now a coach for that club team.

There are plenty of rags-to-riches stories in the Olympics, but swimmer Dara Torres' upbringing is not among them. She grew up in Beverly Hills, where she lived in a nine-bedroom mansion.

Taekwondo is certainly a family affair for the Lopez clan. Siblings Diana, Mark and Steven Lopez are three of the four U.S. representatives in the sport, which makes them the first trio of siblings to be on the same American Olympic team since 1904.

The face of U.S. women's weightlifting, Cheryl Haworth, isn't all brawn. Her coach says that while she'll typically lift as much as 25 tons during a 2 hour workout, she runs the 40-yard dash in 5 seconds and her vertical leap is 30 inches.

In high school, sailor Sarah Mergenthaler lettered in five sports, including football. In 1995, she was the first female in New Jersey to kick a field goal in a varsity game.

A former police officer, Elizabeth Callahan is shooting pistol for USA in her fourth Olympics. Callahan, 56, is the oldest female ever on the U.S. Olympic team.

Cyclist Christine Thorburn graduated from Stanford Medical School and has her own practice in Palo Alto.

After 14 years of competing together, including two straight Olympic Games, equestrian Debbie McDonald plans on retiring her horse, Brentina, after they return from Beijing. However, Brentina could live on in future Olympics. McDonald wants to have an egg from Brentina artificially inseminated and implanted into a surrogate.

Gymnast Samantha Peszek, who is all about the red, white and blue, has a bit of Orange Crush inside her. Both of her parents are former Illini athletes. Mother Luan was a gymnast and father Ed wrestled and played hockey.

Talk about versatile, Sheila Taormina, who will compete in the modern pentathlon, won a gold medal in swimming at the 1996 Olympics as part of the 4x200 freestyle relay team. In 2000 and 2004, she competed as a triathlete at the Olympics. That makes Taormina, 39, the first female to compete in three different sports at the Olympics.

Olympic Controversy I

Last week, in writing about American Becky Hammon's controversial decision to play basketball for Russia in the Olympics, I mentioned her loyal followers, the self-anointed "Hammonites."

Well, I heard from the Hammonites, seemingly in droves.

They defended Hammon's decision, saying that, for starters, she was snubbed by the U.S. national team and was not given the opportunity to be "patriotic." They said that playing for Russia, in exchange for making $2 million over four years, was a sound business decision on her part, and that following her Olympic dream, albeit in a slightly unconventional way, was simply an illustration of what it truly means to be an American: having freedom of choice.

I agree with all that. As I had mentioned, Hammon isn't the first athlete to cross borders and she won't be the last. Also, she's playing well within all the rules.

Hammon is simply the example du jour of what I see as a problem with the Olympics.

If all the Olympics are, or become, is a contest of what country can spend the most money to assemble a dream team of the best athletes the world has to offer, why bother having anyone play under a specific flag?

Olympic Controversy II

American swimmer Amanda Beard is again ruffling feathers -or fur, as the case may be.

The 26-year-old, who has caused a stir with women's groups in the past by posing nude in men's magazines, apparently irritated Chinese authorities during some of her down time in Beijing. They shut down a PETA event that she was involved with because she appeared naked on a poster in front of a U.S. flag.

Written on the poster: "Be comfortable in your own skin. Don't wear fur."

A spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the event was positive and supposed to be done in a private function room.

Beard later issued a statement about her motives for doing the poster, "I have seen a lot of videos and it brings me to tears. What (some people) think is pretty is actually something that's very gruesome and gross."