Vollmer grabs Worlds gold; will she be a London star?

You know who Dana Vollmer is, right? Because if you don't, start getting to know this 2004 Olympic gold medalist. She could be one of the stars of the London Games next summer.

Vollmer won the 100m butterfly at the Swimming World Championships today, the first (and only) victory by an American at the meet thus far. Her swim came just one day after she broke the event's American record during the preliminaries.

She also won a silver medal with the 400m freestyle relay squad on Sunday.

Still left for the 23-year-old Californian at these Championships is the 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly and at least the 800m freestyle relay - the medley relay squad has yet to be announced. So Vollmer has the potential to win another gold medal (she's a formidable freestyler) and up to three others.

Vollmer is not the Michael Phelps of women's swimming, but she's starting to navigate her way to that road.

2010 might have been the best season of Vollmer's career after winning four races at the Pan-Pacs and took second in another. Those victories included all three relays plus the 100m butterfly, while her second-place result came in the 100m freestyle. But she won the 100m freestyle at the 2010 Nationals and took second in the 200m fly ... so one can't always go by the results sheet when judging someone's athletic talent.

Monday's win was Vollmer's first individual title at a Worlds or Olympics for Vollmer. Not that she was known as a "professional relay swimmer" (like Gary Hall Jr. once said of Jason Lezak), but Vollmer's career is dotted with relay victories. The fact that she broke through that barrier could be the difference-maker as we approach the Olympic year.

"I was a little slower than in semis, just with nerves," Vollmer told USA Swimming on Monday. "It doesn't matter, though. I got my hand on the wall."

Now Vollmer will be able to rest up before her next races, as the women's 100m freestyle heats are Thursday.

Vollmer won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in -- yes, you guessed it -- a relay (in this case the 800m freestyle relay). She failed to qualify for the 2008 Games after coming up short in four races at the Trials (50/100/200 freestyle, 100 butterfly). After that, she told the media her career was far from over.

"Either way, however this went, I had planned on training until 2012," she said. "So this is definitely not the end."

Nor was Monday's victory the end of her 2011 World Championships.