Michael Phelps with one of his eight gold medals.

Through the eyes of millions, the world watched on in disbelief as history was made, world records shattered, and life-long dreams fulfilled. Holding your breath and crossing those fingers, you watched athletes from dozens of different countries as they struggled not to stumble on the balance beam and to perform the perfect dive. You began to hold your breath for the swimmers as they dove into the water, and you learned to breathe for the track and field sprinters as they stumbled to the finish gasping for breath.

Each one of those athletes had a dream. Some dreamt impossible dreams; visions of themselves on the top of the podium, flowers in hand, the gold medal draping proudly around their neck. Some of those dreams became a reality---once, twice, and even eight times. China’s lucky eight became Michael Phelps’s favorite number. Yet---other dreams---well---they were shattered. Disappointment was just as much apart of the Games as the athletes themselves. But this article isn’t about the failures. It’s about the athletes who not only won gold, but who inspired the rest of us to believe in ourselves and to believe that anything is possible.

Park Tae-hwan with his gold medal.

Michael Phelps proved right off the block that nothing stood between him and the top of the podium. With five individual gold medals, and three relay wins Phelps became the best of the best, with a total of eight lovely gold medal’s traveling back home with him to Baltimore, Maryland. Despite all the buzz Phelps stirred up, there was still amazing splashing left in the pool in the women’s 400 meter freestyle, with nineteen-year-old British swimmer Rebecca Adlington reeling in a gold after stopping USA’s Katie Hoff by seven hundredths of a second. Twenty-year-old Aussie (Australia) swimmer Stephanie Rice picked up three gold medals on her stay at the Games in both the 200 and 400 meter individual medleys and the 4x200 meter freestyle relay. Nineteen-year-old Park Tae-hwan of South Korea won gold in the 400 meter freestyle. César Augusto Cielo Filho, a twenty-one-year-old Brazilian hit gold in the 50 meter freestyle, winning Brazil’s first ever gold in swimming.

Out of the Water Cube and into the Gymnastics arena, competition was fierce. Unlike swimming, gymnastics didn't have any room for error. The slightest balance check on the balance beam meant a deduction. Fall off the uneven bars? Get back up and give it your all. I personally find it stressful to watch, because to me it’s like watching a Superbowl game that never ends. But instead of worrying about fumbles, touchdowns, and tackles I worry about stumbles, falls, and landings.

Shawn Johnson poses outside the Late Show with David Letterman with her gold medal.

Clearly, China’s women kept it together to win gold in the team competition with USA's women folding up under pressure. With the team competition over, it seemed as though several athletes stepped up to the plate. Nineteen-year-old Nastia Liukin (USA) was able to hold off her own teammate Shawn Johnson, who received silver and Chinese gymnast Yang Yilin who won bronze, went on to win gold in the all-around. Romania’s eighteen-year-old Sandra Izbasa won gold in floor exercise. Nineteen-year-old Un-Jong Hong of North Korea won gold on vault, and sixteen-year-old Shawn Johnson of the United States took her first stand on top of the gold medal podium for her performance on balance beam.

Usain Bolt poses in front of a sign displaying the world record he just set.

Track and Field this summer was filled with speeding bullets with Jamaica dominating most of the races. Twenty-two-year-old Jamaican, Usain Bolt ruled the Bird’s Nest with his “lighting-like” speed to the finish in the 100 and 200 meters, and in the 4x100 meter relay. “Lighting Bolt”, received three shiny gold medals to match his golden shoes and the title of “The World’s Fastest Man”. In women’s track and field Shelly-Ann Fraser, a twenty-two-year-old from the one and only Jamaica, came into the Olympics title-less---that is until she won gold in the 100 meters and became “The World’s Fastest Women”.

Do you know the old saying, “Do what you’re good at and make sure to give it all you got“? Well, each of these athletes did just that. They poured their lives into training to better themselves in what they do and it clearly shows. Not only do they believe that they can win, but they believe in themselves enough to put forth that extra effort to win it all. Each one of these athletes I mentioned are in their teens and early twenties. If you caught on, you may have been wondering why I italicized each of the athlete’s ages. You’re probably thinking, “How can she write an article if she can’t even type it out right”. I purposely wanted the ages of the athletes to stand out to each and every one of you. Why? Because most of you are the same age as these athletes are now and I wanted you to realize that. Athletes your own age are out there winning gold. I’m seventeen. USA gymnast Shawn Johnson is one year younger than me and she has already won a gold medal. Michael Phelps is six years older than me, and he has already made Olympic history with eight gold medals. Me? Well, I won two hundred dollars in a writing contest, and I have good grades---none of which compares to an Olympic gold medal.

“To accomplish something great, means that you have to believe that you can accomplish it in the first place” That’s a quote I tell myself whenever I don’t think I’m good enough to win any writing contest I enter in. For an example: I believe I’m born a talented writer. If I don’t think I am while I’m writing, I begin to question my writing ability---that’s when I hit a wall. I begin to think that maybe writing isn’t my thing. That there is something else out there that has my name all over it if I can only find it. That’s a writers mind for you. Sometimes I believe that if I put my mind to it, I could become the next Mary-Lou. I can be ‘Michael Phelps’ of women’s swimming, or the next world’s fastest women with Jamaica’s Sehlly-Ann Fraser eating my dust. But the fact of the matter is---I don’t have enough flexibility to even touch my toes without yelping in pain and grabbing the back of my knees. Nor do I have Michael Phelps’s flipper feet, and I’m more likely to become the world’s slowest runner with me eating everybody else’s dust. But it never hurts to dream or believe. After all so many young athletes struck gold this summer and if they can do it, why not me? Better yet, why not you?