For so many small Hawaii kids, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos is a symbol of all that is possible.

She figured she was too little to play big-time volleyball and was so shy the thought of a trip to the North Shore gripped her with fear.

Yet here she is, sitting on the University of Hawaii bench now as assistant coach, 16 years after setting the Rainbow Wahine back to the final four after what had been an unprecedented absence (eight years).

In the interim, the 5-foot-8 McKinley graduate was one of the world’s finest setters, helping Team USA to top-five finishes at the past three Olympics. The Americans reached the championship match in Beijing. They fell in four to Brazil, but the silver medal matched the program’s best finish ever, in 1984.

Ah Mow-Santos wasn’t simply the starting U.S. setter at the past three Games. She was their heart and soul and, ultimately, their captain, just as that small and silent Wahine was so many years earlier. Her relentless desire and magical hands brought out the best in teams and teammates.

Deitre Collins Parker, another former UH All-American and Olympian, characterized Ah Mow’s finest trait as a "flat-out competitiveness you cannot teach." Wahine coach Dave Shoji believes it was "her desire for perfection" that set her apart.

She could set for anybody, anywhere after playing here, around the world with the national team for a decade, and professionally overseas for nearly as long.

But we knew that long ago. That 1996 Hawaii team with Ah Mow and national player of the year Angelica Ljungquist played before an average of 8,378 fans in the Stan Sheriff Center, which remains the NCAA record.

Many were little girls in awe of Ah Mow’s great athletic gifts, and also aware that if she could accomplish that, they could too.

She would be the first to tell them that is true, but it comes with a price.

"Dedication is a lot of it," Ah Mow said when she moved home a couple years ago.

"Since you are small you have to work 10 times as hard as someone who is twice your size. You’ve gotta love what you are doing. If you don’t, it’s not worth it."

» Australian runner Cathy Freeman won the 400 meters at the Sydney Games, making her the first person to light the Olympic Flame and win a gold medal. She took a victory lap holding the Aborigine and Australia flags.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch declared the Sydney Games the "best Olympic Games ever" for the final time at the Closing Ceremony. Samaranch called every Games in his 21-year term "best ever" with the exception of Atlanta.

» The Olympics came back to Greece for the first time since 1896, with the 2004 Games in Athens, featuring a new medal that substituted a Greek venue for the Roman Colosseum that had been used. In the midst of all the history, major broadcasters were allowed to offer video coverage on the Internet for the first time and the Games were on 24/7 among all the networks.

» A cast of more than 15,000 participated in an Opening Ceremony that lasted more than 4 hours in Beijing in 2008, and cost a reported $100 million. There were 11,000-plus athletes from 204 nations competing. The Beijing Organizing Committee reported it spent "generally as much" as Athens did for its Games, which was $15 billion. Other sources estimated the cost at closer to $40 billion, which would make it the most expensive Olympics by far.

China won the most gold medals (51) and the U.S. was second with 36. American Michael Phelps accounted for 22 percent of those, winning eight swimming events to break the record for most gold medals in one Olympics.