100 Olympic Athletes To Watch

Hurdles
United States
Age: 29

When you have the power to squash the dreams of 1.3 billion people, you're one of the most influential Olympians. Trammell, a two-time silver medalist in the 110m hurdles, is one of two major threats to Chinese hero Liu Xiang, the defending world and Olympic champion (Cuba's Dayron Robles, who just broke Liu's world record time, is the other). Liu is a China poster boy; its sports officials have made no secret that anything less than gold is unacceptable. "He'll be under an extreme amount of pressure," says Trammell. "He's pretty much holding a nation on his shoulders." Trammell thinks the heat on Liu will only help the American. "I'm going to win," he says.