Kim Conley

It seems fitting that one of the most unlikely track and field athletes to make the Olympic team earned her spot in unbelievable fashion. Conley, an assistant distance coach at her alma mater - the University of California-Davis - was a long shot to place in the 5,000-meter run at the U.S. trails, but managed to stay near the front of the pack for the majority of the race. She was still in fourth place with just a few meters to go until she leaned forward at the last moment to finish in third with a time of 15:19.79 - 0.04 seconds ahead of Julie Lucas. To make her finish even more astonishing, Conley did not have the “A” standard of 15:20 heading into the race. Her lunge at the finish line qualified her by 0.21 seconds. "This is beyond a dream come true," said Conley, whose most high-profile run prior to the 5K finals was the preliminary race she ran three days earlier. "Four years ago, I was watching the Olympic trials on TV thinking 'Wow, it would be cool to run here,' and four years later I'm an Olympian. I still can't believe it."