olympic athletes

So Jay Leno is coming back to 'The Tonight Show' on Monday, and he has some big guests lined up, including Olympic athletes and Sarah Palin. David Letterman will be back on Monday with new episodes too, and he's planning some big guests as well. One of those guests will be Jerry Seinfeld.

Now, this isn't completely surprising, since Seinfeld's new show 'The Marriage Ref' premieres on NBC March 4 and he's doing press for it and he's a regular guest on 'The Late Show,' but the timing is a little interesting. Seinfeld is a good friend of Leno's and was even his first guest on the doomed 10pm show. Seinfeld has even sided with Leno in various interviews. But he's going to be on Leno's rival the very first week Leno returns, which will be interesting. Joel tells me that Letterman usually takes off the first week of March but this year he isn't because of Leno's return.

In the next couple of weeks Letterman will also have Tom Brokaw and Mitt Romney.

When I think about the Olympics I don't think about the grandeur of the competitions, the feeling of global community, the individual stories of the athletes, or the mesmerizing synchronized swimming routines. The one thing that comes to mind when I think about the Olympics: anonymity. Out of the thousands of athletes that compete in these games many fade into the daily routine of their countries once the Closing Ceremony is completed.

Yet, there are a handful, particularly the up-and-coming stars of each Olympic games, that remain in the spotlight well after the torch has been extinguished. Some continue into the professional sports realm, others become "experts" in their field, and some jump into another profession altogether. Then there are those who enjoy the television spotlight so much that they remain in the medium in one capacity or another.

Sometimes it's as themselves on other television properties. Other times they dabble into the acting field with mixed results. Here are seven Olympic athletes who continued their careers on television in one form or another.