Through our newly formed Pure Performance Team we have extended our commitment to world-class athletes. This group of elite athletes, led by 2008 Beijing Games competitor and pentathlete Eli Bremer, has been handpicked from a variety of highly competitive sports.

Over the years, Shaklee is proud to have fueled the dreams of many athletes. In fact, Shaklee-powered athletes have won over 100 medals at both the summer and winter Games.

Troy Dumais, three-time Olympian with 33 national titles, will team with brother Justin in the men’s 3m synchronized spring board event at the 2012 Games in London.

Michael Blatchford’s first true passion, at age 13, was a potentially dangerous and imposing force: the Olympic Velodrome in Los Angeles, a 250-meter oval track designed for high-speed cycling that was used during the 1984 Games. But since visiting that track as a young teen, Michael has become one of the most dynamic American sprinters on the track circuit today.

Margaux Isaksen found early success in pentathlon, competing in the Beijing Olympics at just 16 years of age. Last year she was crowned Champion of Champions in Sicily, Italy, and won gold at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, qualifying her for the 2012 Games in London.

For Corey Cogdell, making history is par for the course. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Cogdell became the first American woman to medal in the sport of trap (shotgun) shooting—a mere two years after she began competing in 2006. She started earning medals in 2007, and placed first against many veteran shotgunners at the 2008 Women’s Trap Olympic trials.

After trying a number of other sports, “like basketball and kung fu,” Seth Kelsey tried épée fencing. Although he claims he was “terrible” his first year, Kelsey is now one of the most experienced and accomplished U.S. épée fencers of all time.

Caryn Davies was 13 years old when, “tagging along behind my father in a local grocery store, a large man walked up, pointed at me, and said ‘I want YOU for rowing!’” Tall and lanky, she had the potential to be a star rower, but it was her hard work and an unwavering pursuit of excellence that earned her success in the sport. The two-time Olympian is completing her final year at Columbia Law School as she trains for the 2012 Games in London.

In 1996, Keith Sanderson was the type of U.S. Marine who wanted to be the best at everything—and the Marine Corps, he says, “puts a big emphasis on marksmanship.”

So he practiced. A lot.

Following the 2005 World Championships, Justin Dumais retired from diving to fly F-16 jets in the U.S. Air Force. After six years and a tour of duty in Iraq, Justin has returned to diving.

For weightlifting champ Zach Krych, Shaklee isn't just a company that sells nutritional supplements—it's a way of life. He's been taking Shaklee products for as long as he can remember. In fact, he's been taking them since before he was born.

"My mom started taking Shaklee products when she was pregnant with me and became a Shaklee Distributor," he says. "And growing up, I drank Meal Shakes and always took my vitamins."

Eli Bremer is amazing. He fences, swims, rides horses, runs, and shoots. It’s hard to believe that this top-ranking pentathlete went from being an overweight kid with limited athletic ability to competing among the world’s best in the Beijing Games in 2008. For him, it’s about setting goals and having something to work toward.

Bill Demong lives to compete. Make that—win. He garnered two World Championship medals and 11 World Cup podiums in 2009 alone. Call it warming up to his biggest accomplishment yet: becoming the first American ever to win gold in Nordic combined skiing event. The 29-year-old took the podium twice at the Vancouver Games—once for the individual 10 km race and once for the 4x5 km team relay.

Like his hero, Bill Koch, did when he became the first American skier to medal in a Nordic event at the 1976 Games, Kris Freeman is breaking new ice. Kris, aka “Bird,” has won multiple national championships, placed fourth at the 2009 World Ski Championship (missing the bronze medal by a mere 1.3 seconds), and competed in three events at the Vancouver Games.

Peter Frenette started ski jumping at age 6 and never looked back. Frenette, one of the youngest athletes at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, deferred his acceptance to the University of Denver to continue jumping full time. He holds the record in the 90m event at his hometown of Lake Placid, N.Y., and he hopes to continue improving for Sochi 2014.

He was too old for luge, too small for bobsled, and not exactly ready to be a grown-up. So when 5-foot-7 athlete Adam Moore graduated cum laude from the University of Colorado, Denver, he decided to put adulthood on hold to pursue his only other sliding opportunity—skeleton. As it turns out, it was the perfect fit for the former auto racing driver with the need for speed.

Craig Blanchette is unstoppable. A four-time winner of the Portland (Ore.) Marathon, he holds 21 world records in elite wheelchair racing and a bronze medal from the Games in Seoul. Indeed, Craig knows what it takes to succeed and admits that although winning is great, it’s not everything. Rather, passion is what fuels him to do what he does. “It’s now or never,” he says.

Will Laurie Brandt ever call it quits? According to the 47-year-old, “It’s never over ’til it’s over.” Laurie placed first in the 2009 Leadville Silver Rush 50-mile Mountain Bike Race, beating 32 female finishers. Not too shabby for a full-time career woman who only recently returned to racing after taking time off to raise her two young children.

“Work smart and stick to whatever it is you’re doing.” That’s the motto Kent Bostick grew up with—and that’s exactly what he did when he took up cycling in his mid 20s. More than 30 years later, he’s still pedaling strong. He placed first in the 2009 USA Cycling Masters Road National Championship, is a world-record holder, and received the 2009 Best All-Around Rider Award for the 55–59 age group.

When Sandra Gal received her first set of brightly-colored plastic golf clubs on her fifth birthday, she had no idea that it was the beginning of her career. Today, the 25-year-old is on her way to becoming one of the most respected golfers in the world. Sandra placed fifth at the 2009 LPGA Corning Classic, where she shot 17 under par and finished among the top 10 at the Wegmans Classic Tournament.

Reilley Rankin knows a thing or two about determination. She went from winning several collegiate tournaments to spending 18 months in intense rehab as a result of a 2001 diving accident in which she broke three vertebrae, fractured her sternum, and bruised her heart, lungs, and aorta. It was an enormous setback for the golf pro, but the thought of quitting never crossed her mind.

When Jennifer Rodriguez switched from roller to inline speed skating in the early 1990s, she had no idea what to expect. Turns out, the Miami native went as far as Nagano to compete in the 1998 Games. Then Salt Lake City—where she won two bronze medals—and Torino for the 2002 and 2006 Games, respectively. And most recently, she competed in four events at the Vancouver Games, something she’d never thought she’d do after hanging up her skates in 2006.

“In marathon running and in life, there are no such things as unrealistic goals, only unrealistic time frames.” Words of wisdom from 41-year-old Carl Rundell, an elite marathoner who began training seriously at age 32. Within four years, he qualified for the 2004 U.S. Men’s Marathon Trials, and in 2008 he finished first at the U.S. Masters Championship 25K run.

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