But with virtually no financial aid from Jamaica's cash-starved Olympic movement, she had to work part-time, including modeling swimwear for Canadian sportswearmaker Louis Garneau.

FORBES: Bankroll An Olympian

In the last few years, however, risk analytics have become much more powerful, driven in part by advances in areas such as modeling and testing, but also by the explosion of data available for analysis.

FORBES: Analytics May Help Insurers Confront New Risk Environment

Bielory is part of an ongoing study at Rutgers University modeling what climate change has in store for pollen.

CNN: Global warming brings on more pollen

These same feminine qualities would later catch the eye of a modeling scout while Pejic was working at his part-time job at McDonald's.

CNN: High fashion, minus the labels