MEDALLURGY

The World's finest athletes spend a lifetime trying to reach the Olympics. Their task isn't easy. Even more difficult? Understanding how to secure those coveted spots on a U.S. team. Take heed, aspiring Olympians. Or mathematicians.

HOW TO QUALIFY

TRAMPOLINE
A country gets a spot in the Olympics based on how its athletes perform at the trampoline worlds. In 2007, Chris Estrada scored a wild-card spot for the U.S. men, and Brittany Dircks earned one for the women. Alas, poor Dircks scored fewer points than Erin Blanchard during U.S. qualifiers and thus lost out on that spot. That's right: Brittany earned the spot for her country, then her country replaced her.

ARCHERY
Things kick off with three "selection shoots." At each, prospective archers fire off 144 arrows from 70 meters, then endure a series of round-robin tilts as well as single-elimination match play. They accrue points, including bonuses for winning the selection shoot events, and the list of candidates is frequently reranked and pared down. In the end, the top point-gatherers secure a trip to Beijingin this case, three men and two women, all presumably exhausted.

JUDO
Judo has the March Madness of Olympic Trials. The eight highest-ranked athletes in each weight division are invited to the Trials, which are organized bracket-style: No. 1 battles No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, etc. If the top-ranked player wins his bracket, he's on the team. If he loses, the player who won and the top-ranked fighter face off in a best-of-three showdown. Only the last man standing in each weight class makes the team. Unless his name is Brittany, and then he'll somehow get shafted.

TRIATHALON
With triathlon, it's first, second or third time's the charm. There are three U.S. Olympic team selection races held during the year. The first two are automatic qualifiers; the first-place finishers are Beijing-bound. But if hopefuls don't win one of those, they can compete at the third event, after which their results in all three races are reviewed. Whichever competitor has the highest two finishes among the trio of races will next be swimming, biking and running in the Games.

SAILING
Calling the qualifying process for sailing a scramble doesn't do it justice. Sixteen races are held over nine days; first place in each is worth one point, second place two points, and so on. Teams get to drop their two worst races from the tally, but otherwise, the squad with the lowest total sets sail for China. Says U.S. sailor Charlie Ogletree: "You could be ranked No. 1 in the world for four years, but if someone beats you in the Trials, tough luck." Tell that to Brittany.

THE OLYMPIC INJURY REPORT
Different sports even handle injuries differently. Both men's gymnastics and men's track had high-profile bang-ups: Paul Hamm broke a hand, and Tyson Gay tweaked a hammy. A committee selects Olympic gymnasts based on computer data and past performances, but they can ignore both if they know someone like Hamm should represent (which he will). But in track, it all comes down to your time at qualifiers: Superman himself could stumble in the 200, and track chiefs would be powerless to add him to the team.

THAR SHE BLOWS

By Brett Zarda

As Hilary Lister, a quadriplegic sailor from Great Britain, glides alone on her quest to circle much of the U.K., she's using what inventor Steve Alvey calls "the most sophisticated controls for a boat ever." Here's how Alvey's sip-and-puff system enabled Lister to try to trump her 2005 voyage across the English Channel.

SIP AND PUFF 101
Three straws control everything. Each six-foot pneumatic tube winds down to a switch and a computer that detects the difference between the slightest sip and the weakest puff. Straw No. 1 controls the helm: A sip turns starboard (right), and a puff turns port (left). The second straw controls various motors that adjust the sails. The third acts as a toggle, allowing Lister to change what the second straw controls. Without that fine-tuning capability, Alvey says, Lister's 20-foot vessel would be uncontrollable.

AUTOPILOT
Never before has an autopilot system been controlled by sip and puff. After being set to head either in a cardinal direction or toward specific coordinates, the autopilot steers the ship during long stretches of calm water (Lister must still control the sails). But a puff on the third straw empowers the first to make changes in the path, so as to avoid unexpected obstacles. Another puff hands full control back to Lister.

THE CRAFT
Not all of the boat's technology lies in the straws. Lister's seat is mounted in the center of the craft and was engineered to remain unfailingly upright. Built like a cocoon of two-inch foam, the seat shields Lister from the elements. Her boat, an Artemis 20 class named Me Too, is a ballasted sloop, meaning it has a main and a jib sail (sloop) and a lead pod at the bottom of the boat to keep it upright (ballast). It is literally unsinkable, thanks to foam-filled containers that essentially serve as a life preserver for the vessel. After all, the finest technology in the world won't matter if the boat don't float.

Print Article . Email Article. Subscribe to The Magazine