Teresa Edwards, or "T" as her teammates call her, sets a new record every time she plays a game for the U.S. women's Olympic basketball team. She represented her country in 1984, 1988, and 1992, becoming the first American--man or woman--to play on three Olympic basketball teams. In the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Edwards extended her record to four as she helped the women's "Dream Team" win the gold medal.

Growing up

Raised by mom

Teresa Edwards was born July 19, 1964, in Cairo, Georgia. Edwards was the oldest of five children and the only girl. Her mother, Mildred, dropped out of school at 16 when Teresa was born and went to work in the vegetable fields near Cairo. "At the time, I felt like my life was all over," Mildred Edwards recalled in Sports Illustrated. "I knew I wouldn't and couldn't go back to school. I had wanted to become a...