Guide to the games
All Olympians will go for the gold. In these 12 sports, Americans are favored to take it home.
Competition: Wilkinson stole the Chinese thunder in Sydney and expects them to challenge in Athens.
When to watch: Women's 10-meter platform final, August 22
Fencing
It's been 20 years since the United States won a fencing medal, but the current team, including siblings Keeth and Erinn Smart and Emily and Sada Jacobson, has a chance to break that streak.
Hot shot: Sisters Sada, 21, and Emily, 18, will compete in the first women's saber event in the Olympics (the most "macho" fencing competition, says Sada, where, unlike foil or epee, fencers can score points with any part of the blade). Sada, who took time off from her history studies at Yale to train for the Olympics, is ranked No. 1 in the world. Her sister and constant practice partner is No. 10. Sada started fencing in 1998 after her father, a former college champ, was reintroduced to the sport.
COMPETITION: Sada could foil the medal aspirations of France and Russia.
When to watch: Gold medal matches, August 14-22; women's individual saber gold medal match, August 17
Gymnastics
Four years after Kerri Strug vaulted the American women to gold in Atlanta, the entire team--men, women, the first-ever trampoliner--came home from Australia with nary a medal. But 2004 should not be a shutout. The women clinched the world championship team title last year, and Paul Hamm (above, left) is the reigning men's all-around world champion--the first American to enter the Olympics with that title. But nothing is a lock yet, especially this year, when a new type of scoring debuts in these games. Three athletes will compete in each event, and all three scores will count, a change from previous years, when five competed and one score could be dropped. "It really opens up the field," says Chris Korotky, publisher of Inside Gymnastics. "One or two falls could take you out of contention."
Hot shot: There was no swing set in the Hamm backyard on a farm in Waukesha, Wis. Instead, twins Paul and Morgan Hamm played on a makeshift pommel horse and trampoline in the barn. Paul is favored in the all-around competition, and Morgan--a floor exercise, pommel horse, and vault specialist--joins him on the Olympic team.
Competition: China, Japan, and Russia present serious challenges for the men. Ukraine's Alina Kozich and Russia's Svetlana Khorkina could threaten for the all-around title on the women's side.
When to watch: Men's all-around, August 18; women's all-around, August 19
Soccer
The American men failed to qualify for Athens. But Iraq will be there after beating Saudi Arabia on a "home" field in Jordan (tanks are parked on the field at the Baghdad stadium).
Hot shots: The American women--led by vets Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, and Mia Hamm--want to make up for their silver medal letdown in Sydney. One up-and-comer who might help is Heather O'Reilly, 19. "They've been on this team about the same number of years as I've been alive," she says of her soccer mates.
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