Ariel is from Fremont, California. She's been playing table tennis since she was 7.

She calls Warren Buffet "Uncle Warren" and she played ping pong against him when she was 9! Bill Gates, too. Except she doesn't call him uncle. :)

She's ranked #134th in the world -- no American has ever won a medal in table tennis.

What's even more amazing is that she's not the youngest person on the team!

That would be 15-year-old Palo Alto-an Lily Zhang, daughter of a Stanford University math professor.

They train together at the Milpitas community center. Wow.

Here's a great quote from Lily Zhang:

"I've been waiting for this opportunity for so long. It's been my dream ever since I was a little kid," Zhang said.

It's funny that a 15-year-old talks about dreams ever since she was a little kid.

Here's a video that describes Ariel's and Lily's rise to the Olympics:

Here's the video of them playing each other in the women's singles final in Virginia Beach, Virginia in December 2011:

And an interview with Ariel after she won:

They're both incredible players, and I wish them luck in the 2012 London Olympics.

Ariel almost beat the #2 seed in the world: