50 Olympic Athletes to Watch

I'd like to turn your attention to quite an interesting feature by "Time": 50 Olympic Athletes to Watch. Although very US-centred, apart from your Bolts and Semenyas it also introduces some intriguing athletes I've never heard of. Here are my favourites - photos and text by "Time".

Aisuluu Tynybekova

Tynybekova, 19, may have the most bizarre training regimen of any Olympic athlete in London. The female wrestler only spars with men, all of whom are more than 20 lbs. heavier than the Kyrgyzstani. She drinks fermented mare’s milk for strength. She jogs through her native country’s wild rose bush valleys well above sea level. Still, Tynybekova — Kyrgyzstan’s first woman competing in freestyle wrestling at the Olympics — is the Central Asian country’s best hope to bring home a medal.

Im Dong-Hyun

Shooting at a target 70 m away with a bow that weighs nearly 30 lb. is hard enough. Try doing it when you can hardly see the target. Im Dong Hyun, 26, is legally blind but says he shoots by feel, and he has managed to become the second-ranked archer in the world.

Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi

Even at a sporting event designed to celebrate diversity, Malaysian shooter Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi will turn heads. At 34-weeks pregnant, she will be the fourth expecting mother to compete in the history of the games. This year the 29-year-old sharpshooter will only take on the 10m, even though the 50m has long been her specialty—with a belly that big, she tells the Daily Mail, prone position is out of the question. Nevertheless, she doesn’t see pregnancy as a limitation. “I will talk to the baby before I compete…(and say) ‘no kicking please.’”