Ashton Eaton may have broken the decathlon world record at the U.S. Olympic trials, but his teammate Trey Hardee, 28, is the two-time defending world champ. Hardee was in position to medal in Beijing but tripped up on the pole vault. What caused the mishap? “Being mentally unprepared,” he says. “Looking past the task at hand. Focusing on step No. 2 and overlooking step No. 1.” He promises not to make the same mistake in London.
50 Olympic Athletes to Watch
From Qatar to South Africa, Russia to the U.S., TIME takes you around the globe to meet the extraordinary men and women you’ll be seeing this summer at the London Games
Trey Hardee
Track and Field, U.S.
Full List
Athletes to Watch
- Rebecca Adlington
- Tony Azevedo
- Kenenisa Bekele
- Yohan Blake
- Usain Bolt
- Veronica Campbell-Brown
- Mark Cavendish
- Oksana Chusovitina
- Tom Daley
- Phil Dalhausser
- Gabrielle Douglas
- Kevin Durant
- Brady Ellison
- Matthew Emmons
- Jessica Ennis
- Allyson Felix
- Missy Franklin
- Tony Gunawan
- Bahiya Al-Hamad
- Trey Hardee
- Im Dong Hyun
- Larisa Iordache
- Yelena Isinbayeva
- Lolo Jones
- Lin Dan
- Liu Xiang
- Ryan Lochte
- Holley Mangold
- Ous Mellouli
- Carolina Mendoza
- LaShawn Merritt
- Alex Morgan
- Fabiana Murer
- Aliya Mustafina
- Sally Pearson
- Michael Phelps
- Paula Radcliffe
- Kimberly Rhode
- Dayron Robles
- Caster Semenya
- Hope Solo
- Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi
- Katie Taylor
- Allison Schmitt
- Aisuluu Tynybekova
- Kohei Uchimura
- Kerri Walsh
- Rau’shee Warren
- Jordyn Wieber
- Mariel Zagunis