"I want gold. I mean, silver — don't get me wrong," Tom said. "But since I joined the national team when I was 15, it's been bred and beaten into my mind: Get a medal in the Olympics, go for gold and get a medal."

After two near-misses in as many previous Games and some five-game struggles to get to Wednesday's semifinals before a relatively easy sweep of Cuba to reach the finals, there had to be some thoughts that an Olympic medal may never come.

"It would cross my mind, and then I would kick it out — you don't want to think that, you don't want those negative thoughts," she said.

But when the chance came, Tom returned to the U.S. indoor team — just in time to help the United States clinch a Beijing Olympics berth with a third-place finish in November's World Cup. And just in time to get back into the eat-sleep-practice national team routine leading up to the Games.

"It's an amazing roll right now," she said, reflecting on the journey. "It's years and years and years of work and sacrifice and dedication. Along with a lot of these girls, we've sweat and we've bled and we've cried together in past Olympics."

Which made the exuberant, explosive display of celebration on the court after the Cuba win all the sweeter, with Tom still thinking of that call she made last fall to the national team.

"Right now," she said, "it's the best decision I've ever made in my life."

And as she tries to take that final step in her Olympic journey, her former coaches and friends will be with her.

"I haven't missed a game," Norman said. "Partly because as part of USA volleyball, it's our job to find the next Logan Tom."

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E-mail: taylor@desnews.com; adonaldson@desnews.com