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Who Could Make History
Lauryn Williams
U.S.
London Olympic 4 √ó 100-meter- relay gold medalist, 30, now a bobsled pusher, will try to be fifth athlete to win medals in Summer and Winter Games.
HIGHLY LIKELY
GOOD CHANCE
SOME CHANCE
NO CHANCE
Ole Einar Bj‚äòrndalen
Norway
Six-time Olympic biathlete, 40, needs one medal to tie Games record of 12, set by X-C skier and countryman Björn Daehlie in 1990s.
Shaun White
U.S.
Two-time halfpipe champion, 27, could be first U.S. male Winter Olympian to threepeat (also trying to medal in slopestyle, page 74).
Steve Holcomb
U.S.
Thirty-three-year-old ex--National Guardsman hopes to be first U.S. bobsled driver to repeat as gold medalist since 1932.
Kikkan Randall
U.S.
Alaska native, 31, the 2012--13 World Cup sprint champion, could be first American to win a gold medal in cross-country skiing.
Evgeni Plushenko
Russia
Turin champ, Vancouver runner-up and surprise Sochi pick, 31, could be second figure skater to win medals at four Olympics in a row.
Kelly Clark
U.S.
Underappreciated 2002 halfpipe champ, better than ever at 30, hopes to be first woman to win three snowboarding medals.
Shani Davis
U.S.
Four-time medalist, 31, aims to be first male speedskater to threepeat (1,000 meters); if Shaun White falters, could be first U.S. man to do so.
Tim Burke
U.S.
Upstate New Yorker, 32, a 2013 world runner-up, could be first American to shoot and ski his way to an Olympic biathlon medal.
Hannah Kearney
U.S.
Returning moguls gold medalist, 27, is attempting to become first freestyle skier to win an event more than once.
Claudia Pechstein
Germany
At 41, Deutschland's most decorated Olympian (nine medals) could be her sport's first four-time event winner (5,000 meters).
Noriaki Kasai
Japan
Seven-time Olympian, 41, who won World Cup event in January, hopes to become the first ski jumper older than 29 to win an individual gold.
Armin Zöggeler
Italy
Alltime great luger, 40, will try to win medal for sixth straight Games, a feat never accomplished by any Olympian, Winter or Summer.
Sochi
By the Numbers
7
Winners whose gold medals will contain fragments of the large meteor that struck Russia last Feb. 15; the special medals will be handed out for finals held on the one-year anniversary.
44
Times the torch went out (by conservative estimate) during a 40,300-mile relay that took it to the North Pole, underwater in Lake Baikal and into space.
$122,000
Bonus the Russian government will pay each of its country's gold medalists.
2
Gay nightclubs in Sochi.
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BILL FRAKES/SI (WILLIAMS TRACK)
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KERSTIN JOENSSON/AP (WILLIAMS WITH SLED)
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KERSTIN JOENSSON/AP (KASAI)
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KERSTIN JOENSSON/AP (ZOEGGELER)
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IMAGO/ZUMAPRESS.COM (BJÖRNDALEN)
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IMAGO/ZUMAPRESS.COM (RANDALL)
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HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES (WHITE)
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KEVIN JAIRAJ/USA TODAY SPORTS (HOLCOMB)
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ALASTAIR GRANT/AP (PLUSHENKO)
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RICHARD BORD/GETTY IMAGES (CLARK)
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MATTHEW STOCKMAN/GETTY IMAGES (DAVIS)
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MATTHEW STOCKMAN/GETTY IMAGES (KEARNEY)
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CHRISTIAN MANZONI/IBU/GETTY IMAGES (BURKE)
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DENNIS GROMBKOWSKI/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES (PECHSTEIN)
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SERGEI ILNITSKY/EPA (TORCH)
TWO ILLUSTRATIONS
ILLUSTRATIONS BY LYNNE CARTY
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