Alysia Montano

Sport: Track and Field

Nation: United States of America

DOB: April 23, 1986

Hometown: Canyon Country, CA

Career Highlights: After narrowly missing out on the 2008 Beijing Games, Montano has been tearing it up on the track. She has won three consecutive U.S. titles in the 800 and easily secured a spot on the 2012 Olympic team. Montano had her breakout year in 2007, when she won the NCAA indoor and outdoor titles while attending the University of California at Berkeley, along with the U.S. outdoor title. A nagging foot injury prevented her from continuing her success at the 2008 Games, but she worked hard to get back in top shape and showed her improvement by capturing U.S. titles in 2010 and 2011. She competed in her first world championships in 2011 and left with a fourth-place finish. Known for running with a flower in her hair, Montano does so for reasons dating to her childhood. Montano would wear a flower to remind the boys that they were losing to a girl. She married her childhood friend Louis Montano, a strength coach with a degree in physiology.

Olympic History: None