CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Amanda Beard, a 1996 gold medalist, hopes to return to the Olympics in Athens this summer. Beard plans to compete in the 200-meter individual medley, and the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke.

Amanda Beard says she's just another student.

"Sometimes, they call roll in class and people will look when they hear my name, but they don't put it together," she says.

While the rest of the UA community gets ready for a week's worth of semester-ending exams, the retail and consumer sciences junior is prepping for her own final, and it's now just 99 days away.

The course: History 2004.

The classroom: Athens, Greece.

"Right now, I'm very confident," says Beard, who plans to compete in the 200-meter individual medley and the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke at the summer Olympics. "But you never know what's going to happen."

Beard didn't know what would happen as a 14-year-old in 1996, when she won her first Olympic gold in the 400-meter medley relay in Atlanta. She also took home two silvers for the U.S. team that year.

She also couldn't predict what would happen last July when she set the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2003 World Championships.

But if Beard manages to ace her first test at next month's U.S. Olympic trials in Long Beach, Calif., the 22-year-old can be certain her calendar will be booked for the week of August 13 - the date of the opening ceremonies at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Training for Olympic trials, on top of the pressure of being physically and mentally ready for swimming on the world's biggest stage in Athens, is no picnic, Beard says. But it's still all more than worth it in the end.

"It stays pretty intense all the way up until about two weeks until I go to the trials," she says of her training schedule, which includes at least four hours in the pool, six days a week, on top of another half-hour or so of calisthenics. "At that point, we'll back up and just rest."

Creating a career

"How many times will a potential gold medalist be walking on campus?" UA head swim coach Frank Busch asks.

Beard's collection of hardware from the past two Olympiads speaks for itself. But Busch - the 2004 NCAA national women's swim coach of the year - isn't much for looking at the past when talking about his star pupil.

For Beard, he says, it's all about what she's still capable of accomplishing.

"There's not a whole lot of things that Amanda does that surprises me," he says.

Perhaps the biggest non-surprise thrown at Busch was when Beard, then a sophomore for the UA swim team, chose to end her collegiate career two seasons early in order to go after endorsement opportunities.

To Busch the decision to turn pro was simply Beard's way of furthering her career as soon as possible, something he encouraged to the fullest.

"The coaches on the staff were thrilled for Amanda," Busch says. "Obviously it was difficult for the team to lose her after just a couple of years. But my philosophy has always been that I would never want to hold anyone back from that sort of opportunity."

And what opportunities they were.

Speedo swimwear and Red Bull energy drinks quickly inked Beard to endorsement deals, with Oroweat bread and locally-owned Xoom Juice following suit.

Busch says Beard still isn't one to boast about the recognition she's received for her efforts both in and out of the pool - on top of her status, according to ESPN.com, among sports' "hottest female athletes."

CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Retail and consumer sciences junior Amanda Beard has managed to balance a full practice schedule with three courses this semester. Beard will compete in three events at the U.S. Olympic trials, with hopes of winning another gold medal at the Olympic games in August.

"She's a very modest person. She enjoys her status but never uses it in anything but positive ways," he contends. "She's a great influence on others, a great community

person and I think she enjoys what she's accomplished as far as her swimming, but never takes anything for granted."

Beard says one type of recognition in particular couldn't faze her less.

"When it comes to the cute stuff, I don't mind because I'm a girl. But I do get embarrassed with those things," Beard says. "It's definitely flattering that I was good enough in my athletics to be up there and considered for things like that."

Staying true to Wildcat roots

Beard doesn't hide the fact that Busch and his staff - including Rick DeMont, Auggie Busch and Greg Rhodenbaugh, her personal coach - are the primary reasons she still calls Tucson her home.

"I love the school. I'd love to finish and graduate from the (UA)," she says. "But the main reason is the coaching staff. I don't think I'd want to train anywhere else in the country right now."

Busch's influence may not have been stronger than it was last summer in Barcelona, Spain, at the World Championships.

"I love it when I get him all to myself," she says.

With her coach by her side and her confidence soaring, Beard trailed most of the last 50 meters in the 200 breast, only to pull ahead and finish with a time of 2:22:99, en route to the gold medal. She'd only shattered the U.S. record by more than two seconds and tied the world mark in the process.

"She's kind of fallen in love with the sport of swimming," Busch says, attributing much of her continued success - eight years after her first Olympic medal - to her unrivaled work ethic.

Beard's certain, however, that who she surrounds herself with plays just as big a role.

"I know that when I was coming out of high school, I wanted to find a coaching staff that I get along with well on and off the pool deck," she says.

Education not to be overlooked

Beard doesn't have the time to be a full-time student, especially in an Olympic year. Her career just won't allow it.

She doesn't write herself off as a student, though. Instead, she often makes things tougher on herself by trying to hide her public identity from her professors.

"I try to just go to class, do my thing, and leave. Just stay under the radar," she says.

"It is really tough, sometimes. I'll miss like three weeks of school because I'm out of the country doing swim meets. It's definitely hard, as any college student would know, to try and make up that work or try and learn that information. It makes it tough to get good grades."

Busch says athletes like Beard are few and far between. Not many students would be able to successfully balance a competitive training schedule, three college courses and - oh, yeah - being 22 years old at the same time, he says.

"She's mature for her age, does a great job at managing her time and does a great job at arranging her priorities," he says. "Probably having success at an early age had to do with that."

Beard admits that while she is serious about school, her degree will come when it comes. There's really no rush.

She does plan to put it to work someday. Beard hopes to open her own clothing boutique once her swim career wraps up.

That's not to say it's anywhere near over.

What started as a plan to swim in the '96, 2000, and '04 games has extended as far as the 2012 Olympics. Not even Beard knows for sure how long she'll go.

"I thought for sure I'd retire after 2004," she admits. "But then it got closer and I was like, 'No way.'"