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This is our Olympics.

Over the next eight days, more than 60 athletes who live or train in Tucson will compete in the Olympic Swimming and Track & Field trials.

They are the faces you may see running the path at Reid Park or the road at Saguaro National Park East or West. They skim the water of our local pools and stock up on Gatorade at Safeway.

We have Tucson natives in the field of competitors. Some have graduated from high school or college here and others have moved here for our sun and ideal training weather.

We claim them all.

For the next week, they will aim for those five Olympic rings, clinging to dreams of heavy medals around their necks and a visit with a late-night talk show host.

But first they must make the team.

Here's a primer on the trials — including whom to root for and why and how you can catch the action.

Track & Field

Abdi Abdirahman, 30, 10,000 meters After a disappointing outing at the marathon trials last November, the Tucson High, Pima College and UA graduate is healthy and prepared to defend his 6.2-mile trials crown.

Bernard Lagat, 33, 1,500 meters, 5,000 The defending world champion in both events, this is Lagat's first American Olympic trials.

Jake Arnold, 28, decathlon An NCAA champ at the UA, he begins his quest today with five events.

Jill Camarena, 26, shot put She has the longest throw among all trials qualifiers, and a comeback after back surgery 10 weeks ago would mean everything to the Stanford graduate.

Swimming

Lara Jackson, 20, freestyle sprinter Arizona All-American is seeded fifth overall in 50 freestyle.

Whitney Myers, 23, butterfly Did she peak as an Arizona Wildcat?

Lacey Nymeyer, 22, freestyle sprints Good chance to make team as relay member.

Caitlin Leverenz, 17, breast stroke, individual medley If she doesn't make the team, it'll be an upset.

44

Tucson-affiliated swimmers at the Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb.

17

Tucson-affiliated track and field athletes at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore.

Swimming

Gary Hall Jr. Phoenix, 50 freestyle — No one in swimming, not even Michael Phelps, has more of a presence than the Phoenix swimming legend. At 33, he will attempt to match his 2004 Athens gold medal that made him the oldest American swimmer in 80 years to win a gold.

Dara Torres, Los Angeles, 50 freestyle — Get this: Torres competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and is now 41, mother of a toddler. She skipped the 2004 Athens Olympics when she was "retired." She's back, aiming for her fifth Olympiad, which would be an American swimming record.

Michael Phelps, Baltimore, multi-events — At 23, Phelps is the world's most prominent swimmer. He won eight medals, including six golds, at Athens in 2004. He is in his prime, the Babe Ruth of swimming, but his quiet demeanor limits the buzz.

Track & Field

Alan Webb, Reston, Va., 1,500 — The defending U.S. champion was the young, great hope — a Steve Prefontaine for the 21st century. But now he's 25, and his inconsistent performances have overshadowed the high school mile record he set in 1999.

Tyson Gay, Fayetteville, Ark., sprinter — The defending world champion in the 100 and 200 meters broke the U.S. record in the 100 on Saturday in Eugene with a time of 9.77 seconds. The 25-year-old Arkansas graduate could go for the world mark of 9.72 today in the final.

Jenn Stuczynski, Churchville, N.Y., pole vaulter — The former basketball player became a pole vaulter four years ago and is the favorite to win in Eugene at age 26. She is the No. 2 vaulter of all time with her U.S. record 16 feet 3/4 inch.

Swimming

• Swimming-challenged Omaha expects to sell out eight nightly sessions at the Qwest Center, which will hold about 14,000 for a makeshift swimming venue. Really. That would exceed the Olympic Trials record of 105,000 fans, set in 2004 in Long Beach, Calif. Omaha bid a small fortune to wrest the trials away from San Antonio and St. Paul, Minn. Picking sides and following favorites in a swim-novice state will be a learn-as-they-go process.

• The finals of the men's 50-meter freestyle Saturday night (July 5) will be televised live on NBC. It will be make-or-break moment for ancient Hall — the fastest man in swimming for a decade — who is attempting to outpace Father Time. Tucson-based swimmer Matt Grevers could be his strongest foe.

Track & Field

• He's been a U.S. citizen for four years and a Tucson resident for longer — Lagat will attempt a double in men's 5,000 and 1,500. He's the reigning world champion in both events. But trials victories on Monday night and Friday night, respectively, would mean a great deal heading into his first Olympics as an American.

• If things go according to plan, Thursday's final of the men's 400 will feature the two best quarter-milers in the world. Together, Jeremy Wariner and LeShawn Merritt own the four fastest times in the world this year. The deep field includes Lionel Larry of USC and Angelo Taylor. Any of these guys or three of them could be on the podium in Beijing.

Swimming

Sarah Denninghoff, who just completed her sophomore year at Sabino High School. She is ranked No. 63 in the 200 freestyle and is projected as a star-to-be in the 2012 Olympic Trials. She won two titles at the 4A-I state meet last fall, giving her four in her young career. Remember that name.

Franz Resseguie, who is Caitlin Leverenz's coach at the El Dorado Aquatics Club. He has been on the USA Swimming National Team staff and, without much attention, has helped Leverenz become a swimmer of international impact.

Track & Field

Tucsonan Dan Reynolds is the starting-line clerk and you may see him only as a blur in front of the NBC cameras. He'll be lining up the athletes and giving them instructions before the gun goes off. The Tucson Unified School District employee works his fifth Olympic trials this week.

University of Arizona cross country coach James Li will have a permanent position on the Hayward Field perimeter as he is Lagat's personal coach and the manager of the U.S. men's team. Fluent in his native Chinese, Li will be a crucial member of that team.

Amanda Beard, Los Angeles, breast stroke – By now the Amanda Beard story has gotten so much mileage that it's played out in Playboy magazine, on the NASCAR circuit with ex-boyfriend Carl Edwards and on the Hollywood TV gossip shows. The ex-Wildcat All-American, 26, will attempt to make her fourth Olympic team.

Susan von der Lippe is the oldest swimmer in the trials. She is a 42-year-old Coloradoan entered in the 100 butterfly. She is not a serious contender, nor are the nine 13-year-old girls who qualified for the trials.

Jeff Dash is the oldest of the 44 Tucson-affiliated swimmers in the trials. The former Arizona Wildcat standout was three times the Georgia Swimmer of the Year as a schoolboy, who recently returned to swimming after a health scare. He finished 12th in a butterfly event at the 1996 trials in Indianapolis. He is seeded No. 57 in the 100 butterfly.

Track & Field

Breaux Greer of Scottsdale is a javelin thrower who's also an American Gladiator. An eight-time U.S. champion, he broke his own national record twice last season. A two-time Olympian, he finished third at the 2007 World Championships and has the best throw heading into the trials.

After he bowed out with a hip injury at mile 22 of the marathon Olympic trials last November, Abdirahman stopped running for nearly two months. The new year meant a new quest for "The Black Cactus," and the Somalian refugee ran the second-fastest time ever by an American in the 10K earlier this month (27:16.99).

An Oregon native, Galen Rupp runs on his home track at UO this week and is sure to have the Hayward Field crowd with him. He redshirted his senior track season with the Ducks to attempt a tough double in the 5,000 and 10,000 this week. He qualified first in his heat on Friday night in the 5K and the Eugene running community would love to crown him the next Prefontaine.

Swimming

Don't look now, but Nebraska isn't exactly a mecca for swimming. Of the more than 1,200 swimmers in the field, only three swam for Nebraska high schools. The matinee idol of that group is Scott Usher of Grand Island, who is seeded in the top five in both the 100 and 200 breast stroke.

Natalie Coughlin, 25, is a Cal grad who won two gold medals and two silver medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She is camera-friendly and so good behind a microphone that she was an analyst for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Track & Field

Toby "Crash" Stevenson, 31, was the pole vault silver medalist in Athens. Crash is named for the helmet he wears while pole vaulting. The Stanford grad also plays air guitar with the pole after he clears a height.

Lauryn Williams, 24 is a sprinter from Miami who's 5 feet 2 inches and one of the fastest women in the world. With her Princess Leia hair, she was the silver medalist in the 100 in 2004.

Swimming

• 200 women's breast stroke final — Between 5 and 6 p.m. Friday, Tucsonan Leverenz swims against ex-Wildcat All-American Beard . It will be followed about 30 minutes later by the 100 free, when Tucson standout Nymeyer is expected to contend for the title against America's fastest sprinters.

Track & Field

• 1,500-meter men's final — The race of the trials will be the last one of the meet on July 6 at 5:50 p.m. Tucsonan Lagat should face NCAA champion Leonel Manzano from Texas, his rival Webb and Flagstaff resident Lopez Lomong — but they all have to make the final first. This race could be better than the one in Beijing.

• Speedo is the leader in the clubhouse at the Olympic trials. Its dynamic, full-body swimsuit, the sleek LZR Racer, has been worn while swimmers set 38 world records in recent months. Even Nike-sponsored swimmers, such as Tucsonan Myers, have been cleared to wear the enemies' body armor. There is no proof that the Speedo suits make swimmers go faster, but those outfitted in different suits have been deemed everything from uncool to not very smart.

• Eugene, Ore., is the Olympic trials host for the first time since 1980. The meet has finally come home to the birthplace of American track and field, known as Tracktown USA. With an $8 million renovation of Hayward Field, Eugene (and Nike) hope to recapture the glory days of Prefontaine where Bill Bowerman led the Men of Oregon.