Susan Brownell heads the Department of Anthropology and Languages at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her first book, Training the Body for China, was based on her experiences as a member of the Beijing University track and field team in 1985-86, when she won a gold medal in the 1986 Chinese National College Games. Her most recent book, Beijing's Games: What the Olympics Mean to China, provides the historical and cultural context for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was the translator of the biography of China's senior sports diplomat and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), He Zhenliang and China's Olympic Dream. In 2007-08 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Beijing Sport University. She collaborated with the Beijing City government on Olympic education programs in primary and middle schools, and was recently named a "capital city advanced Olympic individual" for her contributions. In the lead-up to the Games she was interviewed by nearly 100 journalists from more than 20 countries.