In the eye-blink history of the modern Olympics, dazzling competitors have pushed ever swifter, higher, stronger. But take the long view—the evolutionary perspective—and we're all Olympians, winners of the struggle to survive under the open sky, possessors of nature's greatest prize: the human body.

Essays by Bernd Heinrich and Jeff Greenwald
Photographed for Outside by Gerald Bybee

• ENDURANCE PREDATOR
• FUTURE JOCK
• THE SECRET OF VULEEFORE

Gerald Bybee

Natural selection: Kurt Grote seems to have been made for the water from the beginning. He'll even tell you that he walks a little like a penguin, a trait that gives him an unusually proficient frog kick. The 27-year-old Olympian from California started swimming as a way to battle asthma and is now a leading contender in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke for the 2000 Games.