“In Lithuania, most people expect me to win a third gold medal and it would be wrong to say I am going there only to take part. I am going after the highest award.”

We’re including Virgilijus in our Olympians to Watch because, as a presidential security guard, he is probably the only Olympian who can rightfully claim that he is really, really close to his country’s president/prime minister/leader.

Zara Philips can, of course, also claim that she is close and is even related to the British queen but she’s, unfortunately, no longer going to Beijing.

Check out the others:
Olympian to Watch: Zara Phillips
Olympian to Watch: Veronica Campbell, Jamaican Sprinter
Olympian to Watch: Britain’s Tom Daley
Olympian to Watch: Vietnam’s Hoang Anh Tuan
Olympian to Watch: Ari Taub, Canadian Wrestler

Photo source: Reuters