Georgia Gould

A trailblazer on and off the course, Gould is set to make her second straight Olympic appearance. The four-time national champion appears to be the United States’ best chance for a mountain bike medal since Susan DeMattei took home a bronze at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Gould, who finished eighth in the cross-country race at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, likely will have her hands full in a talented field that includes Canadian star Catherine Pendrel and Maja Wloszczowska of Poland. Experience could be the x-factor for the 32-year-old Gould, who burst onto the mountain bike scene when she pulled off an upset to win the 2006 national championship. Following a stellar 2006 season, Gould won gold at the 2007 Pan-American Games and finished ninth at the mountain bike world championships the same year. After that 2007 season, Gould made news off the course when she petitioned the International Cycling Federation to make the women’s prize lists comparable to the men's. In addition to her success on the bike, Gould graduated from the Chef Track program at Colorado’s Culinary School of the Rockies in 2008.