Medals

Quincy Watts has never been in a time machine. They exist only in science fiction and the movies. But Watts swears he had an experience like a time machine 20 years ago in Barcelona, when he was standing on the podium with a gold medal around his neck after winning the 400 meters in the 1992 Olympic Games. "As you hear the national anthem being played, it's one of the proudest moments in your life," he said. "It was like going back in time. I thought about my grandfather in Detroit who would always have me go get him a Pepsi and would give me a quarter if I was able to bring it back in the time he decided.

DALLAS — If you're looking for quiet and unassuming, Jordan Burroughs might not be your man. Not that you would expect reticence from someone who spends his days grabbing people and throwing them to the ground. This is a guy who does not hesitate to proclaim himself the new "face of USA wrestling. " A guy who will be tweeting from the 2012 London Olympics under the name "alliseeisgold. " "Obviously, it rubs some people the wrong way," he said. "A lot of people mistake my confidence for cockiness.

An Army Ranger from New Mexico who lost his hand throwing a grenade away from two fellow soldiers in Afghanistan will become one of only two living service members awarded the elite Medal of Honor in the current round of conflicts, Army officials said Thursday. Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry, who will receive the nation's highest award for valor from President Obama on July 12, continued to bark orders at his junior enlistees even as he was being bandaged at the scene of a 45-minute fight with insurgents, members of his unit told reporters.

DALLAS -- Biggest brother Jean Lopez, the coach, the instigator, the only sibling not to compete for the Olympics in taekwondo, gets choked up for a minute. He is thrilled to speak about his 33-year-old brother, Steve, who will be aiming for a fourth Olympic medal in his fourth Olympics this summer in London. Jean can't help but giggle when he speaks about his 28-year-old sister, Diana, who will compete in her second Olympics and try to better the bronze medal she earned in 2008.

Top medal winners by country: * COMPLETE MEDAL STANDINGS: S4 *--* Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Germany 9 10 5 24 United States 7 8 5 20 Austria 8 6 5 19 Russia 8 3 8 19 Canada 5 8 6 19 *--*

TRACK AND FIELD Men, 400 Hurdles * Gold--Nils Schumann, Germany; Silver--Wilson Kipketer, Denmark; Bronze--Aissa Djabir Said Guerni, Algeria Men, 800 * Gold--Nils Schumann, Germany; Silver--Wilson Kipketer, Denmark; Bronze--Aissa Djabir Said Guerni, Algeria Women, 100 Hurdles * Gold--Olga Shishigina, Kazakstan; Silver--Gloria Alozie, Nigeria; Bronze--Melissa Morrison, Kannapolis, N.C.

Jessica Geiser and Mathew Morgan are the sort of teens most parents would love to have -- industrious, athletic, outgoing and community-minded. On Tuesday, Geiser, 17, a senior at Nordhoff High School in Ojai, and Morgan, 18, a freshman at USC, each took home a congressional medal in recognition of their initiative, dedication to public service and personal achievement.

Wayne Collett, a UCLA sprinter who won the silver medal in the 400 meters at the 1972 Munich Olympics but then was banished from the Games for failing to stand at attention on the medals platform, has died. He was 60. Collett died Wednesday at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles after battling cancer, UCLA spokesman Marc Dellins said. At UCLA, where Collett competed from 1968 to 1971, he excelled at the quarter-mile, relay and intermediate hurdle events and became a favorite of longtime Bruin track coach Jim Bush.

Prosecutors say more than a dozen veterans across the country have been duped out of their medals by a man who promised to frame the decorations for them but then replaced them with cheap imitations. Stephen Pyne, 35, a budget official for rural Carroll County north of Baltimore, was charged Wednesday with stealing military decorations from three retired military officers around Annapolis.

When skier Donna Weinbrecht got her first glimpse of the medals that will be awarded at the Salt Lake City Olympics, she cried. The five-time World Cup champion is no stranger to Olympic medals--after all, she won gold in moguls at the 1992 Olympics in Sarajevo. Yet she was moved to tears by Salt Lake's hand-crafted medals, which are made from native materials and look more like fine sculpture than the traditional prizes draped around the necks of the world's finest athletes.

DALLAS -- Everything about Holley Mangold is oversized. Her personality. Her laugh. Her ambition. But the first thing most people notice is her body, which, at 5 feet 9 and 350 pounds, is hard to miss. "I'm huge," Mangold says with pride, not political correctness. "I love my body. I think it's perfect. "I don't know what my personality would be like if I wasn't so huge. " She has a pretty good idea what her athletic career would be like, though. And it wouldn't include a trip to the Olympic Games this summer.

The United States is the only country to have medaled in each of the first three Olympic water polo tournaments for women. And Coach Adam Krikorian relied heavily on that experience Thursday when he selected the 13-woman team for this summer's London Games. Eight of the players Krikorian named have at least one Olympic medal, and attackers Brenda Villa and Heather Petri have three. "We have focused on becoming a team in and out of the water, which will help us in London," said Villa, the U.S. captain and one of 11 Californians on the team.

DALLAS -- Rarely do the Olympics, javelinas and chewing tobacco wind up in the same story. But then, rarely do the Olympics encounter someone like Brady Ellison. The young man tugs a faded cap down over curls of blond hair and explains that, if it weren't for a steady hand and a sharp eye, he might still be hunting hogs on the ranch. "I'm a country boy at heart," he says. For now, his singular talents have led him in a different direction: Ellison heads into summer as the world's top-ranked archer and a good bet to win gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

Thirteen Los Angeles Police Department officers were recognized for heroism during a recent ceremony in Hollywood. Police Chief Charlie Beck last week presented the officers and detectives with the department's highest honors, the Medal of Valor and the Purple Heart. This was the second year the Purple Heart was bestowed on officers who suffered grave injuries in the line of duty. The officers included men and women, some injured or put at risk while on patrol, on undercover assignments or headed home after work.

There are at least two reasons why fans might expect the U.S. to excel in the Olympic triathlon. First, this country is home to the sport's best-known race, the famed Ironman competition in Hawaii. Second, well, this is America. "When you go to the Olympics, everyone expects a medal," said Jarrod Shoemaker, who ranks among the nation's best triathletes. "You win a medal and then you get invited to the Oprah show. " But in the triathlon's relatively short Olympic history, Americans have not fared so well, especially not the men, who have yet to stand on the podium.

It is a cool, overcast morning in Irvine and 10 swimmers of varying skills are taking a lesson in one corner of the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center. Some bellies hang over the swimsuits and a woman keeps mumbling about getting water in her ear. These aren't pros or even talented youngsters. They are in their 20s and 30s and are so different from the solitary man in the fifth lane who has arrived carrying a black mesh bag that holds goggles, a pair of fins, a small parachute and a snorkel that looks like one your 10-year-old might take to the beach.

The Navy's chief investigator concluded Friday that procedures were followed properly in the approval of Sen. John F. Kerry's Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Heart medals, according to an internal Navy memo. Vice Adm. R.A. Route, the Navy inspector general, conducted the review of Kerry's Vietnam-era military service awards at the request of Judicial Watch, a public interest group.

Ah, the glamour of being an Olympic medalist. It is an overcast Wednesday morning in Newhall. The parking lot at the Oak Tree Gun Club is already filling up and the greatest competitive female gunslinger in the history of the good ol' USA is being put through the paces by a photographer. Our modern-day Annie Oakley stands on a square of dirt, next to a field of gravel and facing a scraggly hill. A sign warns of rattlesnakes in the area, and Kim Rhode laughs and says, "Almost sat on one here.

Many days, Dan Campbell can be found standing, arms folded, in the center of the noisy boxing gym at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The smack of leather gloves against raw flesh has been the soundtrack of his career, so even though Campbell retired nearly four years ago, he still shows up to watch the fighters train. "It took me awhile to stop missing the gym," Campbell, who turns 69 this month, said by phone. "Unless the girls and guys come and ask something, I don't give any kind of advice.