At which age did you finally admit to yourself that you would never become an Olympian?

14.

65

I'm not sure, but I regained hope when I saw the US curling team in the past winter Olympics. I think I could have made that squad with just a couple days of practice.

My junior year of HS I went out for XC with no real training background and made 7th man on varsity. By my senior year I was occasionally 6th. I knew.

About 12-14yrs old....when my mom convinced me it was not possible.

15 Right after my freshman year of high school. Why I proceeded to run for the next 7 years is beyond me. It boggles my mind how much time I wasted running around like a maniac.

I'll let you know when I do.

Okay, I admit that the likelihood is greater of my paying the national debt with my credit card after winning the Powerball, but what can I say--I have a rich fantasy life. ;)

I just turned 40 and it is starting to sink in.

That thinking is defeatist. If that's what I want to be, that's what I will be. The real question: is it worth it?

i wanted an olympic or outdoor wc medal.

i never wanted to be just an olympian or go to worlds because that's not winning anything.

I thought PRE and I would medal in Moscow but then Steve died and later, President Carter boycotted the Games. It was then that I knew,age 29.

Im 40 and I run around the basement pretending Im in the Olympics almost every night, winning the 800 then 1500 back to back! I am a Olympic God!

Probably around 16. At that point I had enough experience and training to realize that I could improve, but was never going to suddenly jump through and be awesome. My times when I wasn't training were human and my improvements when I did train were no different.

I've still never found out what my limits are and that bothers me. I set my running PRs as a sophomre and junior in HS. I'm 24 now and I only really run for fitness. Every once in a while I'll train for longer periods and hope to run some races, but I always get discouraged or injured or just f*ck up, and then I never end up racing.

I really began messing up when I was 17 and I first started drinking and smoking weed. Over 7 years since I last set my 5k PR and I've filled it in other ways: a 6+ year daily marijuana affair, a few month cocaine addiction, a terrible 4+ year opiate addiction (oxy's, heroin, suboxone), DUI, possession of narcotics (oxy), and I can honestly tell you that drugs are not the answer!

I've stil entertained the dream of getting clean and using my energy and focus on running and defying the odds to make it to the Olympics. Right now I dream more of being able to be normal when I'm completely sober.

You know the last time I was completely sober for a full day? Sometime in early October of 2003! Every single day since then I've either smoked weed, taken suboxone, used heroin, or drank alcohol. The only time I was ever off anything illicit and I filled the void with alcohol. So I simply will not make the Olympics because I will not pass a drug test. I can't tell you what it's like to be a champion, but I can tell you what it's like to shoot heroin.

3... I always knowed I was gonna be a Gangsta!

Sophomore in college. I was running good, then at our conference meet took 2nd to a guy who showed me how good other runners really were. That was in 1975. I probably would have peaked in 1980 and wouldn't have had an opportunity anyway.

18 going on 19. my hope was revived when i was 18 cause i had a good senior track season in HS, and got a scholarship to a college that has a good distance history. however, the harder i trained, the more i learned about running, the more i learned to respect every level of competitor. i knew i was hitting the wall and that in all likelihood i would never run the 13 something times i'd dreamed of for 5k (and my god, would that even make the 2012/2016 olympics? (MY olympics)) however, i will never stop running. this sport is about so much more than glory of the elites, which is the shadow of other pro sports glory. that was never why i ran in the first place and it's not why i run now, not for a shadow of that shadow of a glory. what a shallow reason to run if that is your only reason to run.

ummmmm i didnt. but im 20

I am an Olympian.

I just ran three races at a level no American has ever reached. Carl Lewis can only imagine what I feel like.