Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/081092/08109937.000

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                                                                                OLYMPICS, Page 54

1992 SUMMER GAMES

SWIMMING: An End to Domination


Americans feel the ripples of change as a new wave of swimmers
make their marks in the pool

By MARGOT HORNBLOWER/BARCELONA


    Catch those Stars and Stripes fluttering through the
crowd. Listen for the splash. Blink into the sun and -- whoops!
In 22 seconds the race is over. But when the bubbles clear, it
is not The Star Spangled Banner playing over the Bernat
Picornell Pool but the strains of another anthem. And the man
who lays claim to being the new Johnny Weissmuller, the new Mark
Spitz, the new Matt Biondi, is a fellow from Volgograd named
Popov, winner of the 50-m free and the fastest swimmer of the
XXVth Olympiad.

    In the dizzying array of backstroke, breaststroke,
butterfly, freestyle -- 62 Olympic races in all -- the
long-dominant Americans especially expected to excel in the
individual free sprints, the glamour events, as if they were a
birthright. The favorite: Biondi, the 1988 five-gold champion
who earns six figures posing for Ray Ban sunglasses and drinking
Evian water. And should the California torpedo fail, there would
be ample backup on the U.S. team, including Tom Jager, the 1988
silver medalist who earns a living swimming against Biondi in
exhibition races. Los tiburones yanqui -- the Yankee sharks --
the Spanish sportswriters dubbed them.

    But as the strains of the Russian anthem faded, veterans
Biondi with a silver medal and Jager with a bronze found
themselves looking up at the 6-ft. 6-in., 192-lb. frame of
Alexander Popov, a fresh-faced 20-year-old who was virtually
unknown in swimming circles until last year. Popov's gold in the
50-m race followed his victory two days earlier in the 100-m
freestyle, where Biondi holds the world record. At the postrace
press conference, Popov was asked how it was possible to succeed
amid the chaos of the former Soviet Union. "We were preparing
in the worst conditions ever," agreed the curly-locked
machinist's son. "But that did not do us any harm. On the
contrary, it made us more aggressive." With a flash of bravado,
he added, "If the American team wants to win more medals, we say
to them, `Come and train in Russia!'"

    With the cold war allegedly over, U.S. Olympic officials
tried to be magnanimous, all the while pointing out that the
Unified Team, led by their forceful trainer Gennadi Turetsky,
had profited handsomely from a wealth of new data published by
American sports institutions. "Our team is doing as well as
expected," said the U.S. head coach, Dennis Pursley. "But the
days when one nation can dominate the world of swimming are
past." Still, with 11 of 31 gold medals, the U.S. firmly
outdistanced its closest competitors. The Unified Team captured
six, Hungary five and China four. The conspicuous loser was
united Germany, with only one gold. In 1988 the
steroid-dependent East German women had sacked 10 golds, but
that was before new doping controls.

    If Biondi, 27, lost his Tarzan title to Popov, he
nonetheless collected gold in a 4 X 100-m freestyle relay. That
brought his career medal total to 11, tying him with the
legendary Spitz. Meanwhile, the world's most famous woman
swimmer, American Janet Evans, collected a silver in the 400-m
freestyle, a race she was expected to win. Grinning bravely, she
told the press, "It's not the end of the world: the sun will
come up tomorrow." But within moments, the 1988 triple-gilded
champion was in tears. ``You don't understand the pressure
that's placed on athletes here," she said. "I gave it everything
I had." Two days later, however, the sun did come up for her as
she roared to gold in the 800-m free. "Four years is a long time
to train six hours a day," she reminisced. "The bad times make
the good times feel so good."

    Overall, the much touted U.S. women's team bagged five
gold medals, fewer than expected. Strong competition came from
Hungarian Krisztina Egerszegi, a coquettish 17-year-old whose
iron discipline -- as well as her powerful backstroke and
individual medley races -- won her three golds. Her long,
blue-polished nails helped her "grab the water," she said. Two
14-year-old sensations, Japanese gold-medal breaststroker Kyoko
Iwasaki and German silver and bronze freestyler Franziska Van
Almsick showed mettle that belied their shy manners. The Chinese
women also mounted a powerful challenge, with Li Linh, a
20-year-old Jiangsu native, setting a new world record in the
200-m individual medley. Noticeably huskier than their Western
or Japanese counterparts, the Chinese were repeatedly forced to
deny doping rumors, many of them spread by U.S. officials.
Midstream, in response to the grousing, authorities changed the
random testing pattern to include each winner.

    No longer overshadowed by the charismatic Biondi, with his
Greek-god looks and unbeatable speed, other members of the U.S.
men's team swept to victory with a swagger. Hopping, skipping
and punching the air with his fist, Nelson Diebel made no
effort to restrain his delight at winning the 100-m
breaststroke. His shaved head wrapped in a Stars-and-Stripes
scarf, the Princeton University undergrad cried, "It's like a
drug! It's the best high you could ever get!" Diebel should
know. Between ages 12 and 16 he was a heavy drinker and
marijuana smoker; then he was rescued by a disciplinarian
swimming coach. "I was hyper and self-destructive," Diebel said.
"Swimming turned my life around."

    Three remarkable comebacks also buoyed up the U.S. team.
Pablo Morales, a 1984 silver medalist, had retired after failing
to make the 1988 Olympic team. Enrolled in law school, he
missed the thrill of competition. About a year ago, he began
training again and at 27 won his first gold in the 100-m
butterfly. "It was my time at last," he said, "a dream come
true." The drive to recover from past disappointment also fired
up Mike Barrowman, who placed fourth in the Seoul 200-m
breaststroke. Last week he captured the gold, breaking his own
world record. As for Melvin Stewart, who came in fifth in the
1988 Olympic 200-m butterfly, defeat "haunted me," he said,
choking up at a press conference. "I had nightmares." Last week,
after four hard years of training, he finally won the Olympic
title.

    Now that its quadrennial moment of glory has passed,
swimming will fade to the back of the sports section. Biondi has
plans to learn to ride a horse and find a job that will keep him
outdoors. Jager is thinking of starting a fence-building company
out of his New Mexico home. And Popov is free to go back to
playing his beloved Gameboy. Will Olympic gold change his life?
"I can't say, to be honest," he confesses. "The political
situation of our country is such that no one knows what will
happen next. All we can do is continue to live our life as
sportsmen." And train on for the also changing Olympic swimming
meet.