Sheila Taormina, 39 years old, sets an interesting record as she is going to become the first and the oldest female athlete (and first American) in the 112-year history of the modern Olympics to participate in three different Olympic sports. Currently ranked 14th in the UIPM international rankings list, Sheila Taormina will be competing in the Olympic Games for the fourth time, and in her third sport.

She won a gold medal in the women’s 4×200 metre freestyle relay at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Taormina competed in the triathlon discipline during the last two Olympic Games, achieving a sixth-place result in 2000. Following the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Taormina began competing in modern pentathlon and quickly rose through the ranks before capturing gold at the 2005 Pan American Championship.

Taormina’s long-time triathlon coach and the U.S. modern pentathlon coach think that Taormina has a real chance to even claim a medal.

“Sheila is a very gifted athlete,” says Lew Kidder, who coached Taormina from an out-of-shape retired swimmer to the 2000 Olympic triathlon in two years. “In addition to having a great engine, she has incredible hand-eye coordination and balance, and probably could be a world-class cyclist, cross country skier, biathlete or modern pentathlete.”

U.S. modern pentathlon coach Janusz Peciak says that she is “an unbelievable athlete”, “has great coordination, is very smart and works very very hard. She is catching on so quick, so fast; she is capable of doing in three years what normally takes 10-12 years-become a world-class athlete in a very complicated and demanding sport.”

Peciak, a two-time modern pentathlon world champion who took the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics, also praises Taormina’s mental strength, besides her physical gifts.

“She is also brave,” says Peciak. “She can do everything the coach tells her. She has a man brain, thinks like a man. She is very powerful, very strong, pushes to the edge, and is not afraid of pain.”

“It’s true,” she says. “I always fell off the bike the right way and got right back up. I never crashed so badly I was put out of a race.”