As the Olympics get set to begin later this week in Beijing, we continue our Olympic focus on the Double-A Zone by talking with American softball player Vicky Galindo.

Galindo was a 2006 graduate at California, where she led the Bears to three Women’s College World Series appearances. The third baseman also was a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association all-American during her collegiate career. Since her graduation, in addition to playing on the U.S. National Team and for the National Pro Fastball’s Chicago Bandits, Galindo served as an assistant coach at San Jose State in 2007.

Galindo has enjoyed an incredibly successful stint with the U.S. National Team, including gold medals at the 2006 and 2007 World Cups of Softball and the 2007 Pan American Games. Galindo is one of the stars who hopes to lead the American squad to another gold medal in the Olympics.

This will be Galindo’s first Olympics as a player, although she has experienced the Olympics once before. In 1996, Galindo’s mother wrote a letter for a radio station contest that explained why Vicky deserved to carry the Olympic torch on its way to Atlanta. Vicky ended up being selected, and at the age of 12, she had her first taste of the Olympics.  As Vicky told us, “That’s actually when I really starting thinking, ‘well, maybe I can play softball in the Olympics.’ ”

In our conversation, Galindo discusses her student-athlete experience at California, the challenges of being a coach and player, and the U.S. National Team’s expectations and pressure in Beijing.

Get connected with Vicky Galindo.

An excerpt follows:

Q: Tell me about your days as a student-athlete.

A: My experience at Cal was absolutely amazing. I had such a great time. It’s close to home for me. I’m from the Bay area so that was a big thing for me when I wanted to decide where to go to school. I loved it. I had such a great time.

Q: How much pressure do you feel going into these Olympic games? Is only a gold medal going to be satisfactory?

A: Like you said, the last Olympics, the girls dominated. For me, I definitely want to go in there and do just as well, if not better…we definitely have targets on our backs. People want to see us lose. If we win, it’s expected and no one really gets too excited…the other teams really have nothing to lose.