12-year-old Lia Neal qualifies for Olympic trials

To see a picture of Lia Neal, she looks just like any other little black girl in seventh grade. A recent photo in the New York Times showed her with oval-shaped eyeglasses wearing a brightly colored 1-piece swimsuit and her hair braided in two ponytails. But Lia wasn't just out for a swim with the family. She was training for the U.S. Olympic trials.

Two months ago, 12-year-old Lia was participating in a swim meet in New Jersey when she clocked her personal best time of 58.17 in a preliminary race of the 100 meter freestyle. That alone would have been cause to celebrate, but Lia wasn't finished. Later that day, she would return to the water and swim the same race in an astounding 56.87 seconds, shaving off a second and a half from her own record earlier that day.

Lia's time was so fast that she qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials this summer in Omaha.  So while other kids in her Brooklyn neighborhood are busy playing Marco Polo at the local pool, Lia will be aiming for a spot at the summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

She stands 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs just 115 pounds, but Lia's prowess in the swimming pool has already started comparisons to other child prodigies. The Times compared her to Tiger Woods, who started winning golf tournaments long before he was old enough to drive a car. And yet she also brings to mind the early days of the Williams Sisters, when Venus and Serena were still wearing beads in their hair.

Like Tiger, Venus and Serena, Lia is breaking ground not only for her age -- she turned 13 last month -- but also for her skin color. She competes in a sport that has long been dominated by whites. But Lia can find direction and inspiration from the coaches and teammates at the Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics club, where she trains in Manhattan. The squad will be taking several young athletes to the Olympic trials in June. But none as young as Lia.