Stacy Sykora told herself, and everyone else, that she was finished with volleyball. The Burleson High School product was disappointed, burned out and moving on.

But even after Sykora moved to Las Vegas and started working as a paralegal, her mother, Sherian Richards, knew better.

"She was just kidding herself," said Richards, who still lives in Burleson. "I never believed her. I knew she was really upset about the [result of the 2004 Olympics], and that she needed a break. But it wasn’t like Stacy. She’s always just lived volleyball."

Sykora said last September, after an almost three-year break, that she was returning to the national team in an attempt to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. A longshot to make the final roster of 12, Sykora cried when she learned in mid-July that she had made her third Olympic team.

Sykora is the first Texas A&M scholarship athlete to qualify for three Olympic Games. Vic Wunderle, a 2002 A&M graduate, also will compete in his third consecutive Olympics as a member of the U.S. archery team. The A&M athletic department does not sponsor archery.

"Oh, my gosh, that’s a huge honor," Sykora said. "I’m a huge Aggie, and I take Aggieism seriously. Once you step foot on campus, you carry this pride for your school, and I have it."

Read the complete story at star-telegram.com.