Olympic Training Towns: Hot Spots

AUSTIN - SwimmingEddie Reese, the U.S. Olympic men's swim coach, has guided the men's team at Texas since 1978. World-record holders in three 100-meter events -- 24-year-old Aaron Peirsol (backstroke), 26-year-old Brendan Hansen (breaststroke) and 25-year-old Ian Crocker (butterfly), all former Longhorns -- still train at the university.

WAKEFIELD, MASS. - JudoFour-time Olympian Jimmy Pedro houses many of the country's top judokas -- up to eight at once -- in a five-bedroom house a mile from Pedro's Judo Center. Among his athletes: Ronda Rousey, 21, who last year won gold at the Pan Am Games and silver at worlds.

INDIANAPOLIS - DivingIn 1998 then Olympic coach Ron O'Brien created a developmental program in Indianapolis. It produced Thomas Finchum and David Boudia, both now 18, who finished first and second, respectively, at 2007 nationals on the 10-meter platform.

LOS ANGELES - Track(Speed Events)At UCLA's Drake Stadium, Bob Kersee coaches a group that includes world champ Allyson Felix, 22. At West Los Angeles College, John Smith's long-dominant club, HSI, features such stars as 37-year-old hurdler Allen Johnson, an Olympic and world champion.

CHURCHVILLE, N.Y. - Pole VaultIn 1996 pole vaulting coach Rick Suhr built an unusual 4,000-square-foot training site, putting two Quonset huts end-to-end to create space for a 120-foot-long synthetic-surfaced runway leading to a vaulting pit. There is no insulation against winter temperatures, which drop into single digits. "When I jump, I always have to wear spikes because the water seeps onto the runway and freezes," says 26-year-old Jenn Stuczynski, the women's U.S.-record holder (16' 0"), who trains under Suhr. Stuczynski (below) bundles up in layers of sweats and stands by a propane blower between attempts. "At least when I go to a meet, I feel five pounds lighter because I don't have to wear as much," she says.