McKeesport's Swin Cash expected to be in Beijing right now.

But, the former Olympian, who played with the gold medal women's basketball squad in Athens in 2004 and has since added another WNBA title to her lengthy list of accomplishments, was unexpectedly cut from this year's team July 2.

Since the start of the Games, she's been closer to home, providing commentary and doing halftime shows for women's basketball games on NBC from its New York studios, halfway around the world from her former teammates.

The news came as a disappointment to many, who thought Ms. Cash's spot on the team was a sure thing. But she took it in stride and saw it as an opportunity.

"One door closed and another door opened," she said.

In New York, she's maintaining a grueling schedule, broadcasting at odd hours to accommodate the 12-hour time difference with Beijing and working out at least two hours a day.

Back home in McKeesport, where Ms. Cash honed her skills on the courts in Harrison Village, she said her mother and stepfather will still watch her. Ms. Cash is an National Basketball Association studio analyst for ESPN in her off-season, and her mother has been known to stay up late into the night to watch her commentary.

Her former high school coach, Gerald Grayson, no longer watches her play or broadcast, but said he prays for her. Mr. Grayson, who is now a deacon at McKeesport's Bethlehem Baptist Church, said he provides "spiritual coaching.''

He said he's proud of her achievements and was not disappointed when she did not make the Olympic team.

Mr. Grayson said he is most proud of the person she has become, citing her contributions to her hometown. Her charity, "Cash for Kids," has helped fund extracurricular athletics and arts programs in the McKeesport area and she's currently working with Mayor Jim Brewster to build new basketball courts in Harrison Village.

Mr. Brewster said the plan to build the basketball courts is in motion and chose the blueprints for the courts, along with a concession stand, last week.

"The end result will, hopefully, be a place where she can come down and run [basketball] camps," he said.

Mr. Brewster, who has watched her play since high school, follows her Women's National Basketball Association play closely, and said he will watch her halftime shows as a broadcaster.

"She's a great, articulate young lady and knows the game and played in the Olympics," he said. "I'll be real anxious to hear her giving her analysis."

While she relishes her opportunity to be a commentator, Ms. Cash said she deeply misses her former teammates, many of whom she played exhibition games with all of this year before she was cut.

"The experience and the friendships that I made, that's what I miss," she said.

But she has not given up on her Olympic dream altogether. She said she hopes McKeesporters will be able to welcome her home as an Olympian in 2012.

"If anything, not making this team and having to report it [has] ... made me hungrier and more focused to be playing," she said.

Plus, Ms. Cash, who boasts two NCAA championships with University of Connecticut and two WNBA championships with the Detroit Shock, needs one more gold medal, for symmetry, she said.

"I just feel to round everything out I need my second gold medal," she said.