Sport: Track and field (10,000 meters)
Age: 29
Local connection: University of Colorado graduate
Previous Olympics: 2004 (DNF 10,000 meters), 2008 (ninth in marathon).
How made Team USA: Finished June 22.
2012: In a in January, missing the Olympic team in that event by eight seconds. He bounced back to secure a spot in the 10,000 on the track.
Career highlights: A two-time FootLocker national cross country champion at Rockford (Mich.) high school, Ritzenhein won the 2003 NCAA cross country title at CU. He made the 2004 Olympic team in the 10,000 while running with a stress fracture in his foot and tried to run the race in Athens but was forced to drop out. He was the top American in the and a year later, becoming the first American in 13 years to break 13 minutes in the event. He was the top American (sixth) in the 10,000 meters at the 2009 world championships and finished eighth at the 2010 New York City Marathon.
