Wariner, Lagat, Gay, Felix headline U.S. team

Tyson Gay runs through a corner during his first round men's 200m heat at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon, July 4, 2008. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An experienced athletics team featuring seven current world champions and a host of medals favorites will represent the United States in next month's Beijing Olympics, USA Track & Field announced on Monday.

The 126-member squad includes Athens 2004 Olympic gold medalists Jeremy Wariner (400m) and Shawn Crawford (200m), double world champions Tyson Gay and Bernard Lagat and individual world winners Wariner, Allyson Felix (women's 200m), Brad Walker (pole vault), Reese Hoffa (shot put) and Kerron Clement (400m hurdles).

Collectively, the team has 15 Olympic medalists, 31 world championships medalist and 10 U.S. record holders. The latter include javelin thrower Breaux Greer who was added to the team under a USATF rule that allows the selection of an injured athlete who competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials but did not reach the final and has the qualifying standard. Greer, who has a shoulder injury, finished 17th in qualifying.

USATF president Bill Roe called the squad one of the United States' best.

"This Olympic team is one of our strongest ever, with more medal-winning experience in a wider range of events, from sprints to distances and field events, than we've had in many decades," Roe said in a statement.

"While it would take an incredible performance to match our medal counts of recent championships, we certainly feel that this team has what it takes to again top the medal tables."

The United States won 25 athletics medals at the 2004 Athens Games, eight of them gold. It had a championships-high 26 medals at the 2007 worlds, including 14 gold.

The U.S. team:

MEN

100m: Tyson Gay, Walter Dix, Darvis Patton.

200m: Dix, Shawn Crawford, Wallace Spearmon Jr.

400m: LaShawn Merritt, Jeremy Wariner, David Neville.

800m: Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating, Christian Smith.

1,500m: Bernard Lagat, Leonel Manzano, Lopez Lomong.

5,000m: Lagat, Matt Tegenkamp, Ian Dobson.

10,000m: Abdi Abdirahman, Galen Rupp, Jorge Torres .

Marathon: Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, Brian Sell . 3,000m steeplechase: Anthony Famiglietti, Billy Nelson, Josh McAdams.

110m hurdles: David Oliver, Terrence Trammell, David Payne.

400m hurdles: Bershawn Jackson, Kerron Clement, Angelo Taylor.

20 km race walk: Kevin Eastler.

50 km race walk: Philip Dunn.

Decathlon: Bryan Clay, Trey Hardee, Tom Pappas.

High jump: Jesse Williams, Andra Manson, Dusty Jonas.

Pole vault: Derek Miles, Jeff Hartwig, Brad Walker .

Long jump: Trevell Quinley, Brian Johnson, Miguel Pate.

Triple jump: Aarik Wilson, Kenta Bell, Rafeeq Curry.

Shot put: Reese Hoffa, Christian Cantwell, Adam Nelson.

Discus: Ian Waltz, Michael Robertson, Casey Malone.

Hammer throw: A.G. Kruger.

Javelin throw: Leigh Smith, Mike Hazle, Breaux Greer.

4x100m relay pool: Gay, Dix, Patton, Travis Padgett, Rodney Martin, Leroy Dixon plus anyone already on the roster in an individual event

4x400m relay pool: Merritt, Wariner, Neville, Reggie Witherspoon, Calvin Smith, Darold Williamson plus anyone already on the roster in an individual event.

WOMEN

100m: Muna Lee, Torri Edwards, Lauryn Williams.

200m: Allyson Felix, Lee, Marshevet Hooker.

400m: Sanya Richards, Mary Wineberg, Dee Dee Trotter.

800m: Hazel Clark, Alice Schmidt, Nicole Teter.

1,500m: Shannon Rowbury, Erin Donahue, Christin Wurth-Thomas.

5,000m: Kara Goucher, Jen Rhines, Shalane Flanagan . 10,000m: Flanagan, Goucher, Amy Begley.

Marathon: Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, Blake Russell.

3,000m steeplechase: Anna Willard, Lindsey Anderson, Jenny Barringer.

100m hurdles: Lolo Jones, Damu Cherry, Dawn Harper .

400m hurdles: Tiffany Ross-Williams, Queen Harrison, Sheena Tosta.

20 km race walk: Joanne Dow.

Heptathlon: Hyleas Fountain, Jackie Johnson, Diana Pickler.

High jump: Chaunte Howard, Amy Acuff, Sharon Day.

Pole vault: Jen Stuczynski, April Steiner, Erica Bartolina.

Long jump: Brittney Reese, Grace Upshaw, Funmi Jimoh.

Triple jump: Shani Marks, Erica McLain.

Shot put: Michelle Carter, Kristin Heaston, Jillian Camarena.

Discus: Aretha Thurmond, Suzy Powell-Roos, Stephanie Trafton Brown.

Hammer throw: Jessica Cosby, Amber Campbell, Loree Smith.

Javelin throw: Kara Patterson, Kim Kreiner.

4x100m relay pool: Lee, Edwards, Lauryn Williams, Angela Williams, Mechelle Lewis, LaShaunte'a Moore plus anyone already on the roster in an individual event

4x400m relay pool: Richards, Wineberg, Trotter, Monique Henderson, Natasha Hastings, Ebonie Floyd plus anyone already on the roster in an individual event

(Writing by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; editing by Pritha Sarkar)