Betty Heidler

For the second time in as many Olympics, Heidler enters as one of the favorites to win gold in the hammer throw. She hopes her trip to London is more fruitful than the one to Beijing. After finishing fourth at the 2004 Games as a 20-year-old, Heidler was expected to become Germany’s first female gold-medal winner in the hammer throw in 2008. She had set a national record with a throw of 76.55 meters two years earlier, and was coming off a first-place finish at the 2007 world championships. But she buckled under the pressure of the Olympic spotlight, finishing a disappointing ninth. She rebounded from that subpar showing by taking silver at the 2009 worlds with a throw of 77.12 and finished in the top two in 15 of 16 competitions she entered in 2010. Heidler, who works as a German Federal police officer, set a world record in 2011 with a throw of 79.42 - besting the prior mark by 1.12 meters - but finished second in that year’s world championship with a toss of 76.06.