The Republic of South Africa's Penny HEYNES, the world's number one-ranked swimmer in the 100m breaststroke, established a world and Olympic record Sunday in that event with a time of 1:07.02. She destroyed her previous record of 1:07.46 by .44 seconds, a mark set 4 March 1996 in Durban, South Africa in the qualifying heats of the South African Olympic Trials. Her 50m split Sunday was 31.65.
Although HEYNES is a citizen of South Africa, she is a familiar face in the United States. As a student-athlete at the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln, Nebraska, she finished her career with the Cornhuskers by winning the 100m breaststroke and finished second to Kristine QUANCE in the 200m breaststroke by a 0.14 second margin at the 1996 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships. Preceeding her arrival at the 1996 Olympic Games, HEYNES had been training in a 25m pool, which is less than half the distance of the Olympic course.
Since finishing 34th in the 200m breaststroke at Barcelona, she has had one of the busiest schedules of any swimmer in the world. She competed at the World University Games in Japan; the Pan Pacific Championships in Atlanta; the All-Africa Games in Zimbabwe; the South African Championships in Durban, South Africa; the Big Eight Conference Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and March's NCAA Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She won 200m breaststroke titles at all these events, setting her first world mark in Durban, and an NCAA record in the 200m breaststroke.
"I did hope to break the world record in the morning," HEYNES said of her preliminary Olympic performance. "I can't say that was a perfect swim. There's a couple of things I can improve, and that's the way I always like to go out, fairly hard, so that I can always see where I can improve before I swim at night again."
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by David Blanchard.
Select another day:
Pre | July | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | August | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Post |
| An estimated 5.3 million visted Centennial Olympic Park between opening day - 13 July - and closing day - 4 August, making the park the most single most visited Olympic site during the Games. |