For 2 1/2 weeks, as swimmer Michael Phelps made history, sprinter Usain Bolt stretched the speed limit and gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson delivered a one-two punch, athletes from a certain capital city made a statement of their own.

Take a bow, Sacramento Olympians.

Carmichael's Gabe Gardner capped a powerful performance by local Olympians when the U.S. men's volleyball team beat Brazil 3-1 Sunday to earn the gold medal. That finishing touch gave a group of 14 athletes with ties to the Sacramento area eight medals – five gold, two silver and one bronze – in the Beijing Games.

The collective effort marked a big improvement from 2004, when Orangevale product Mary Whipple's team silver medal in women's eight rowing was the only Olympic medal earned by a Sacramento-area athlete.

"It means that Sacramento sports is coming of age," said John Mansoor, a regional director for USA Track and Field and race director for the California International Marathon. "We are developing those sports, we're getting better coaching and better facilities. That generally attracts the athletes.

"I think that's terrific. I think there's more ahead, too."

Google 'gold medal'

Gardner's gold put an exclamation point on his story: He turned down a job from Google co-founder Sergey Brin when the two were friends at Stanford University, and Google was in its infancy, so Gardner could pursue his dream of playing volleyball in the Olympics.

After he didn't make the U.S. team in 2000 and then was part of the 2004 Olympic team that lost the bronze-medal game to Russia, his persistence produced gold.

"It's more than we've ever hoped for, actually," said Gardner's wife, Julie, a resident at UC Davis. "I'm in shock.

"It's just been a lot of hard work and sacrifices and ups and downs. … It just really makes it all worth it."

When the Gardners' son, Harper, turns 1 on Tuesday, he'll receive a special gift: Dad should be home, with something golden to show him.

Gardner, 32, also played a part in giving coach Hugh McCutcheon something positive from the Games after McCutcheon's father-in-law was killed and his mother-in law seriously injured by an assailant in Beijing just after the Games began.

"Emotions everywhere," Julie Gardner said.

The United States lost the opening set of the volleyball final, 20-25, before winning the next three sets, 25-22, 25-21 and 25-23.

"Regardless of the start we had, we believed we could be gold medalists," Gabe Gardner told USA Volleyball.

Hometown training

Several of the local Olympic medalists took advantage of Sacramento-area facilities, coaches and programs to climb the medal stand.

Whipple, gold-medal winning coxswain of the U.S. women's eight rowing team, started training at Lake Natoma the summer before she entered high school. Stephanie Cox, a defender on the gold-medal U.S. women's soccer team, grew up playing in Elk Grove youth soccer leagues. And Galt's Stephanie Brown Trafton, who won an individual gold medal in the women's discus, took advantage of local facilities like Sacramento City College, where she did the bulk of her throwing.

Silver medalist James Williams of Rio Americano High School polished his skills at the Sacramento Fencing Club. Davis High School graduate Gina Ostini Miles, who claimed an individual silver in equestrian eventing, embraced her sport at Happy Horse Riding Club and with the Panache Pony Club, both in Davis.

Mansoor envisions more facilities for local athletes. He'd like to see a local track training facility established similar to the one in Stockton that served numerous Olympic hopefuls in the past year, including heptathlon silver medalist Hyleas Fountain.

With the 28-year-old Trafton standing atop the medal podium, 26-year-old Jill Camarena from Woodland finishing 12th in the Olympic women's shot put and former Laguna Creek High school standout Jessica Pressley owning two NCAA individual titles, Mansoor said Sacramento would be a great spot for a throwers' training group.

"Stephanie's only starting … she's got two or three more Olympics in her," he said. "You get the top talent together in one place, working, training on a daily basis, pushing each other, that's how you create a great team."

The local athletes' success provides a boost for their sports through increased interest and added motivation.

"We've had a lot of phone calls," said Ted Smith, Williams' coach from the Sacramento Fencing Club. "It really makes a huge difference. Just the exposure on television of actually seeing fencing, which almost never happens, people are saying, 'Wow, that looks like fun. I want to do that.' "

Time to celebrate

As athletes and their families return home, there will be plenty of celebrating to do. Galt has scheduled a celebration to honor Trafton at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Galt Community Park. She's scheduled to receive a police escort to the park and then receive the keys to the city.

"I think it's a big deal for the community," said Galt City Clerk Elizabeth Aguire. "We want her to know how proud we are of her. Everybody's real excited."

Elk Grove also is hoping to do something to honor Cox, known as Stephanie Lopez when she was a student at Elk Grove High School.

Family members, too, have been basking in the glow that comes with Olympic success.

"I'd have to come down just to get on Cloud Nine," said Orangevale's Al Whipple, Mary's father. "My cheeks are sore from grinning still.

"Wow. It's still euphoric."

Al Whipple said there's plenty of room to grow in the club of local Olympic medalists.

"What a nice tradition to have a hotbed of Olympians here," he said. "We welcome all members to the club. It's open-ended.

"It would be so exciting to have more athletes to do this."

Call The Bee's John Schumacher, (916) 326-5523.