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9 Kim Rhode, 17. She became the youngest person to win a medal of any kind in the history of shooting competition at the Olympic Games, and hers was a gold medal in the Women's Double Trap event. Rhode, who was introduced to the sport during childhood hunting trips with her family, has been firing some 25,000 competitive rounds every year since she was 11. At 13 she won her first world championship. Yet she's still a girl at heart: Shortly before Atlanta, Rhode had the red, white and blue braces removed from her teeth. "This is just the cherry on top of the cake," she said after winning the gold. "I really didn't expect this. I just wanted to enjoy my first Olympics and do as best I could." She also--no doubt--won an award at Arroyo High School in El Monte, California, for her "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" theme paper.
10 Jeff Gordon, 25. You might say he is the Tiger Woods of NASCAR (or that Woods is the Jeff Gordon of the P.G.A.). Humble and handsome, Gordon was racing quarter-midget cars at five, sprint cars at 12 and stock cars shortly after he got his driver's license. When he was 24, Gordon won seven NASCAR races and the prestigious Winston Cup championship. This year he proved he was no flash in the pan by winning 10 races and finishing second in cup points to Terry Labonte, 40. He has also become an almost too-good-to-be-true ambassador for the sport of stock-car racing. Says Rick Hendrick, owner of the team for which Gordon drives: "Jeff Gordon is about as damn near perfect as you can get."