Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.) won five medals at the 2004 Olympic Games, becoming only the third American woman to win five at one meet. Her two gold, two silver and one bronze is the best performance by an American woman in Olympic history. Coughlin earned her first Olympic gold medal by winning the 100m backstroke in Olympic record-time. She then won bronze in the 100m freestyle in a field that had the fastest three medalists in history. On the relay side, she led off the 800m free relay in a time that would have won the 200m free individually. Her time set Team USA up for a world record in the relay, wiping the oldest existing mark off the books. In the 400m free and medley relays, Coughlin turned in fast splits to help her teammates to silver medals.

Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) became the first American (and only person in a non-boycotted Olympic Games) to win eight Olympic medals at a single Games, winning six gold and two bronze. He took four individual titles, matching Mark Spitz’s individual total; he won the 100m and 200m fly events and both the 200m and 400m individual medleys. Phelps led off the 800m free relay that upset the heavily favored Aussies. His sixth gold medal came as part of the 400m medley relay. He also won bronze in the 200m free and the 400m free relays. Phelps’ six gold medals were half of the swim team’s total gold medal count. Along the way, he broke the world record in the 400m IM, the American record in the 200m free and the 800m free relays, and broke Olympic records six different times.

Noted as ‘one of the most dominant Olympic performances in the history of the Games,’ the USA Softball Women’s Olympic Team captured its third consecutive gold medal in August at the 2004 Olympic Games. Allowing just one run in nine games and outscoring opponents 51-1, the U.S. team dominated the competition cruising to a 9-0 record. Beginning with seven games of round-robin action, the U.S. rolled over its opponents with seven consecutive shutouts and four run-rule victories while the pitching staff recorded five straight one-hit performances. During those seven games, the U.S. outscored opponents 41-0 and allowed just 11 hits. In the final two games against Australia, the U.S. outscored the Aussies 10-1, allowing its only run in the bottom of the sixth during the gold-medal game. Team USA recorded three home runs in the final game and has rewritten the record book by setting 18 different team or individual Olympic records. From the plate, the U.S. crushed the ball, batting a team .343 to its opponents .097. From the circle, the U.S. was masterful with a combined 0.12 ERA allowing 18 hits and just one run. The nine straight wins continued the U.S. win streak to 79 dating back to July 13, 2003. The U.S. has now collected all three softball Olympic gold medals (1996, 2000, 2004).

Finishing second among the women was three-time Olympic gold medalist, Lisa Fernandez (Long Beach, Calif.) who dominated the 2004 Olympic Games from the circle and the batter’s box. Setting a new Olympic record for batting average, the 5’6" legend combined for a .545 average in nine games played. She broke the previous record of .524 (Chika Kodama, Japan, 1996) by recording 12 hits, two doubles, one home run and eight RBI. Batting from the No. 4 position, she recorded at least one hit in the last five games and compiled four multiple hit performances. From the circle, she led the U.S. to its third gold medal with a 4-0 record. In her first performance against Australia, she one-hit the 1996 and 2000 bronze-medal team in a 10-0 run-rule shutout. Just four days later, she tallied another one-hit outing against host country Greece in a 7-0 decision where she totaled five strikeouts. Heading into the medal round as the No. 1 seed, it was all Fernandez as she lifted Team USA to back-to-back victories over rival Australia en route to the gold medal. In the opening round of the playoffs, she tossed her third shutout while allowing only three hits in a 5-0 victory. The ‘go to’ player, Fernandez continued as she captured win No. 4 and her third gold medal against the Aussies in a 5-1 decision. With 0.29 ERA and allowing just one run and nine hits, Fernandez was one of five players to start in all nine games while she recorded 21 and 2/3 scoreless innings. Defensively she posted a perfect fielding percentage while playing third and in the circle.

Mariel Zagunis (Portland, Ore.) took third in the women’s vote. On Aug. 17, she won Olympic gold and made history by becoming the first American, male or female, to win Olympic fencing gold in 100 years. Zagunis, along with teammate Sada Jacobson (Dunwoody, Ga.), who won the bronze medal, are the first American women to ever win an Olympic fencing medal. Zagunis won the gold in individual women’s saber, defeating China’s Xue Tan, decisively, 15-9. Tan had just beaten Jacobson, the No. 1-ranked women’s saber fencer in the world.

Taking second place on the men’s ballot was Cael Sanderson (Ames, Iowa). Sanderson claimed a gold medal at 84 kg./185 lbs. in men’s freestyle wresting at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece., Aug. 27-28. He was the only U.S. gold medalist in wrestling, and one of six Americans to win a medal in Athens. Sanderson won five matches on the way to the title, and he defeated 2000 Olympic silver medalist (76kg) Moon Eui Jae of

Korea in the gold-medal finals, 3-1. Sanderson scored two takedowns in the second period to put the match away and bring home a gold medal for the United States. His semifinal victory was a thrilling 3-2 decision over 1999 World Champion and 2000 Olympic silver medalist (85kg) Yoel Romero of Cuba. Sanderson scored two second-period takedowns for the margin of victory. He had lost his previous two meetings with Romero prior to the Olympic showdown. In an exciting quarterfinal match, Sanderson stopped 2002 World bronze medalist Majid Khodaei of Iran, 6-5. Sanderson fell behind and battled back with some outstanding wrestling late in the match. He also captured two matches in his pool competition, beating Magomed Kurguliev of Kazakhstan, 4-2, and Siarhei Borchanka of Belarus, 9-1.

1. USA Softball Women’s Olympic Team58 (12)

2. U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team43 (10)