Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Almost any Olympic athlete can tell you where the spark was lit to push them into sports. For many, it was in front of a TV set as a kid, watching the Summer Games play out in some faraway place — and often, Michael Phelps was the athlete that drew their interest. Others had siblings who played and paved the way. Still others saw someone who looked like them on the field, or the water, and thought they could do that, too. The Associated Press heard these stories and more from competitors heading to the Paris Games this month.
