JENNIFER GANGLOFF: "We view ourselves as very average, ordinary people, and to have this phenomenon happen to us is just very unbelievable."
Jennifer Gangloff of Cuyahoga Falls is living a mother's dream.Her son Mark is in Beijing - representing the U-S in the swimming pool by competing for a medal in the100m breaststroke.
Firestone High School graduate Mark Gangloff has now qualified for the games ``twice'', finishing fourth in his individual event in 2004, and earning gold in Athens as part of the U-S 100 meter medley relay team.
JENNIFER GANGLOFF: "It's been such a wonderful ride. He had a fantastic HS career, he had a terrific college career - I mean what more could happen, what more could you want? It's been thrilling for our whole family."
Gangloff is one of many Ohio moms traveling halfway around the world this month... the hours of sacrifice, of shuttling kids to practices, of traveling out-of-state to watch their sporting achievements... now culminating with the chance to witness their children's crowning glories.
They'll bring that pride, and perhaps Olympic medals, back home to Ohio.
Cindy McAdams of Broadview Heights is a first-time Olympic mom.
CINDY McADAMS: "When he ran in Brazil, he had the flag, the U-S-A flag draped across his shoulders, and I thought, WOW, he really is doing this for the U.S. This is a great, great, honor."
Her son Josh is a 3,000 meter steeplechase runner, and a former NCAA champion in the event, leaping hurdles and hazards while circling the track under the unlikely sobriquet "The Hobbit".
His father Russ says this athletic family never targeted the Olympics for their talented kids, but their children had witnessed the excitement of being around the games.
RUSS McADAMS: "We went to the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta. Josh was there and all our children were able to experience the Olympic Spirit and all that… and now, Josh is going!"
Both families stress that there is so much more to being on the Olympic team than just being fast, or strong.
They think the sacrifice, and the effort involved, is largely lost on fans.
And the financial toll of full-time training can be staggering.
Cindy McAdams says her son couldn't achieve this goal without support from all corners, including Josh's part time employer - The Home Depot.
CINDY McADAMS: "They allow them to train and be gone when they have to compete; things like that… they had a big cake with the Olympic rings on it.... they're very supportive of him."
Being supportive - and proud - is something Olympian's parents share - but so too do the people the athletes grew up around.
Russ McAdams heads sales for an environmental maintenance firm.
RUSS McADAMS: "Oh gosh, we've had people from the neighborhood that we don't even really know come by, and they stop and say …tell Josh congrats, we'll be watching him and pulling for him… and at work I have customers and they're all asking me about Josh…
Jennifer Gangloff feels that support as well, but admits there are moments where the pride of accomplishment is almost too much to bear.
JENNIFER GANGLOFF: "It's not like I'm walking down the street saying 'My son's an Olympian', look at me', but I do on occasion just let it go, and say I'm going here, and then, 'Well my son is swimming in the Olympics.' Because it is something that should be shouted.
The effort to reach this stage also means that both men are older than you might think. Unlike the young teens that proliferate in gymnastics, Gangloff is 26 years old. McAdams is 28 - after taking two years off to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in Thailand.
Both men are married. And expectant fathers.
As family men themselves - they understand what it means to folks like Jennifer, Russ, and Cindy - who head to Beijing with specific goals.
CINDY McADAMS: "Meeting the people and seeing the city… this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so we're excited about it."
Mark Gangloff competes beginning Saturday. Josh McAdams Olympic competition begins on the 16th.
Rick Jackson, 90.3.
