The Olympics are still six months and three weeks away, so there's still a little time to order a copy of Michael Phelps' "London on 10,000 Calories a Day" guidebook. The U.S. Olympic trials season, however, is just about to heat up.

Mark the following events and dates on your 2012 Mayan calendar if you want a head start on crushing all opponents in your Olympics Fantasy League.

(Disclaimer: This isn't all of the trials since some sports don't have them, but this list is a lot to put on your plate without also explaining the selection process for the modern pentathlon team.)

Jan. 14: Marathon

Begin the long, grueling season of Olympic athlete trials and qualifications with -- what else? -- the marathon in Houston. The U.S. women may have their deepest field ever, including Desiree Davila, Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan and 38-year-old Deena Kastor. On the men's side, Ryan Hall is the favorite, but don't rule out 36-year-old 2004 silver medalist Meb Keflezighi, who set a personal record in the recent ING New York City Marathon. By the way, top marathoners average just under five-minute miles. For 26.2 miles. You'd be lucky to average that in Houston at rush hour in a car.

Jan. 19-29: Women's soccer qualifying tournament

Sadly, Hope Solo's "Dancing with the Stars" season finished shy of the coveted mirror ball. If she wants a shot at adding another Olympic gold medal to her collection, she and the rest of the U.S. women must first secure a spot. A field of eight countries from the Americas will compete in Vancouver, British Columbia, for two slots in London. The United States is in Group B with Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, but another interesting story should be Group A in which Haiti will face Canada, Cuba and Costa Rica. Let's just hope Vancouverites don't burn down the city if Canada doesn't qualify.

Feb. 13-19: Women's boxing

Qualifying for the Olympics is a two-step process for the U.S. women. Boxers must win the trials in Spokane, Wash., in February. Then those boxers must finish among the top eight in the three weight classes at the world championships in China in May. This will be the first time women's boxing will be on the Olympic calendar.

March 22-April 2: Men's soccer qualifying tournament

Because of the age restrictions, men's Olympic soccer isn't viewed as big a deal as it is for the women. But can Freddy Adu and his teammates grab the spotlight away from the women with a medal? Well, the Americans will first have to get there. The qualifying rounds will be played in Nashville, Tenn., and Carson City, Calif., before the semifinals and final March 31 and April 2 in Kansas City, Kan. Don't drip your scarves in the barbecue.

April 21-22: Wrestling

In addition to the usual hopefuls, there are two possible wrestlers who could make this event very interesting. Both 2000 gold medalist/"Biggest Loser" competitor Rulon Gardner and 1996 gold medalist/pro wrestler Kurt Angle have said they will attempt to make the team. A slimmed-down Gardner is working at the Olympic training center, while Angle is training on his own. No chairs, please, Kurt.

Late spring, basketball roster selections

The Olympic spots are set, it's just a matter of hearing the final rosters. The men are coming off gold in 2008, while the women are 33-0 in the Olympics dating back to 1992. BTW: If men's coach Mike Krzyzewski needs a vowel, he can buy it from women's coach Geno Auriemma.

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Ellis Coleman talks about completing "The Flying Squirrel" during Greco-Roman Junior World Championships:

NEW YORK -- Olympic wrestling champ Henry Cejudo has found his motivation for 2012: He wants his mother to see him win gold this time.

But Cejudo won't be preparing for the London Games with Terry Brands, who was USA Wrestling's national freestyle resident coach in Colorado Springs, Colo., when Cejudo was training for Beijing. Cejudo had planned to move to Iowa to reunite with Brands, but he said Tuesday that the two clashed over the star wrestler's many sponsor commitments.

Cejudo is splitting time between Colorado Springs with U.S. national freestyle coach Zeke Jones and his hometown of Phoenix with his trainer, former Washington Redskins defensive back Brian Davis.

At 21, Cejudo became the youngest American to capture an Olympic wrestling gold medal when he won the freestyle 55-kilogram division in 2008, but his mother was unable to travel to Beijing.

With so many folks hitting the treadmills and elliptical machines this week, energized by New Year's resolutions, it seems only fitting to start 2011 with a dieting tale of Olympic proportions.

It's been more than 10 years since Rulon Gardner did a surprisingly agile cartwheel to celebrate his stunning victory over Alexander Karelin in the Greco-Roman wrestling championship match at the Sydney Olympics. The former University of Nebraska All-American, who grew up milking cows on a Wyoming dairy farm, handed the Russian his first international defeat in 13 years.

In 2004, Gardner won a bronze medal in Athens and left his shoes in the middle of the mat in the wrestler's traditional farewell. He headed off to a career of motivational speaking and, apparently, reckless eating.

Gardner has survived a lot before and since then -- a childhood bow-and-arrow impaling; motorcycle and plane crashes; a snowmobile accident that led to frostbite and a partial toe amputation; and on a personal front, three divorces.

Now 39, Gardner may have seemed immortal, but his family and friends feared for his health as he ballooned to 474 pounds, 210 pounds over his fighting weight. He told the Salt Lake Tribune that his tipping point came in June as he sat in a hotel room chowing down on his second dinner of the night and watching a report on his induction into the U.S. Wrestling Hall of Fame.

"I said, 'Holy Cow, this is truly embarrassing,'" Gardner, who lives in Logan, Utah, told the newspaper in an interview published over the weekend.

Late last year, Gardner auditioned for and earned a slot on the NBC reality show "The Biggest Loser," where the winner takes home a $250,000 prize. The show's new season begins Tuesday. Gardner is competing in tandem with his longtime friend Justin Pope, a health club owner and former schoolboy rival.

"Ultimately, it's about taking some responsibility and not making excuses like I've made the last six years,'' Gardner told the Salt Lake Tribune.

How many of us can relate to that? Good luck, and lighten up.