Rachel Bootsma, 18, swims for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team tonight in Omaha, after winning her semifinal heat on Tuesday night.

The South African Olympic runner and double amputee known as the "Blade Runner" is inspiring a Coon Rapids boy to do anything he sets his mind to. Eli Guthrie, 8, has the same congenital birth defect as Oscar Pistorius, and like the runner, had both his legs amputated below the knee as an infant. Guthrie told KARE-TV that Pistorius makes him "want to run around and be in the Olympics and be kind of like him."

Kara Goucher doesn’t believe her running career is reaching a peak in Sunday’s Summer Olympics women’s marathon. At age 34, she thinks the best is yet to come. Only three American women have ever run a faster marathon than the 1996 Duluth East graduate, who has a best of 2 hours, 24 minutes, 52 seconds.

Eden Prairie swimmer Rachel Bootsma is one step closer to London. At the Olympic trials in Omaha, the 18-year-old won a preliminary race in the 100-meter backstroke.

Add another Minnesotan to the U.S. Olympic team. Amanda Smock of Melrose won the women’s triple jump at the U.S. Track and Field trials in Oregon yesterday. She’ll next compete on August 3 in London.

St. Cloud native Alise Post, 21, suffered two major injuries in two years, but after a long, difficult rehabilitation, she's back on her BMX bike and will represent the United States in the London Olympics.