She sits atop the hill at the North SeaTac BMX track where it all started, smiling and talking to her brother and old friends as BMX racers of all ages peddling their hearts out whiz by.

She is Jill Kintner, Burien's very own bronze winning Olympic athlete.

She and her family returned on Saturday, Sept. 27 to the BMX bike track in SeaTac to be honored on "Jill Kintner Day."

The journey to greatness had simple origins, her family recalls.

"Me and Jill started when were five or six riding ditches down the road," her brother Paul remembers with a smile as he sat on his BMX.

He recalls how they both progressed through the ranks from novice to nationals with their father's support.

"Every time we won, my dad was psyched, Paul said. "Jill's specialty was winning.

"We went everywhere together, including Reno every year."

One can see the pride in his eyes as he tells how they all started on this modest SeaTac track, went to national competitions and "now she's worldwide."

Peter Kintner, Jill's father, passed away two years ago and didn't get to see his little girl reach such international heights.

Jill's mother, Janice, still a Burien resident, stands with Jill's uncle, Wayne Porter, next to the line of well wishers and fans telling with a mother's pride stories of Jill's earliest adventures on a bike.

"When she was two-no, two and three-quarters-- she just had her training wheels and we were here and I could tell she wanted to go with the boys but I was worried," Justine remembered. " I looked away for a second and here's Jill on an E.T. bike and she took this huge 35-ft ramp."

Jill's mother grows more serious when recalling the trials her little girl had to go through just to get to the Olympics. In the end, Jill was the only U.S. woman's BMX competitor with a shot for a medal.

By all reports, Jill was finished with BMX after having accomplished everything possible with over 70 wins and several world championships under her belt.

So, Jill retired in 2003 to pursue a mountain bike career.

But after Mike King, the director of BMX for USA Cycling and a former world champion, told her about the opportunity to be part of BMX history at its premiere as an Olympic sport, Jill's once "burnt out" inner drive was reignited.

However, she injured her knee during a training ride and another crash required dramatic surgery. Jill had doubts about being destined for the Beijing Olympics.

The time she spent healing put her seemingly insurmountable 13 points behind team mate and friend Arielle Martin for the coveted two U. S. women's BMX slots in the final rounds of the trials.

In the end, Jill's dogged determination and a bad spill by Martin in the last race left Jill the last women standing.

"She called home afterwards; she was crying that Arielle didn't make it," her mother remembers. "The U. S. only got one rider instead of two so it was a bittersweet day."

Jill was subdued when discussing her feelings about the moment she earned the Olympic bronze medal.

Her family, on the other hand, doesn't hold back their excitement and pride.

"I don't even know the emotions I was feeling when I saw her win," says Janice while admitting to being overwhelmed at the moment. "When she crossed the line, she kissed her glove in honor of her dad. She always keeps him with her."

Brother Paul also admits to being excited at the moment.

"I was videotaping the race and don't remember exactly what I was feeling but I must of been really loud because people way over at the finish line told me they could hear me cheering."

During the SeaTac event, Jill lines up at the gate with riders half her age and then she smiles and waves at admirers, as a man in full BMX gear announces that "Jill Kintner, our very own Olympic winner," is on the line.

After that her back stiffens, she leans forward, eyes focused and all the other riders follow suit, wondering if they can beat the Olympian out the gate and brag to their friends later that they did.

The teenagers pedal as fast they can, glancing to the side to see if Jill is behind them, and she is, pacing herself just fast enough to make the older ones try harder around the first curve and just slow enough so the younger ones pedal faster to catch up.

She is clearly having fun on her home track that she knows so well.

In between chatting with her brother and old friends, she encourages the littlest ones and the girls, in particular, to "keep going."

The red-roped line to see the Olympian is steady for over an hour as she smiles and signs posters, t-shirts, and lets children hold the medal she earned.

Soon, Jill will be off to get much- delayed ACL surgery. But on a sunny day underneath the shady trees in a small BMX park, the hometown girl shakes hands and shares her Olympic glory with SeaTac.

Jill encourages everyone to support the North SeaTac BMX Club, 1811 S. 136th Street, 206-243-441, during a time of rebuilding and growth.

She also voices support for the Hans Rey "Wheels 4 life" charity providing people in Third World countries with bikes for transportation at http://www.wheels4life.org/, and her own "Jill Kintner Olympic Scholarship Fund" to help support dreams for the next generation of BMX Olympians. Details on her foundation are forthcoming, she promises.