1.   American and French athletes have won the most awards.

2.   An athlete must win two of three matches for a spot on the Olympic team.

3.   And the freedoms won by athletes have left them too free.

4.   Boguinskaia blames the early behavior on her competitiveness and on a Soviet system that demanded that its elite athletes win.

5.   A local athlete will win a gold medal, Alex Rodriguez will light the Olympic torch and ohmigawd, who can resist?

6.   A star athlete can win a lucrative college scholarship.

7.   But no current male athlete has won four straight titles in any of these sports.

8.   By MARTINA NAVRATILOVA What female athlete has won more tennis titles than any man or woman in history?

9.   He did things before anyone else dared, like fighting hypocrisy in the American Olympic program, which expected U.S. athletes to win without adequate financial support.

10.   In real life, athletes win and lose, succeed and fail, prove themselves mortal and only sometimes seem bigger than the games they play.