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Inside Olympics
Dispatches Competition will be fierce when America's best dive into the Olympic trials By Brian Cazeneuve
Is Dara Torres going to make a fourth Olympic team after a seven-year layoff? Bet on it. Torres, a 33-year-old fashion model and Tae Bo infomercial queen, is swimming better than ever. In June she became the oldest swimmer to break a U.S. record, with her 24.73 in the 50-meter freestyle. When Jenny Thompson enthusiastically welcomed Torres back to Stanford last summer to train with and push her, she never dreamed Torres would start smoking her in practice. If -- make that when -- she makes it to the Games, Torres will become the first American swimmer to compete in four Olympics. How will 1996 U.S. gold medalists fare? Thompson is a full second faster than anyone else in the 100 butterfly field. Brooke Bennett, Tom Dolan and Amy Van Dyken also figure to make the team. Bennett should qualify in the 800 free and probably double in the 400 free. Super all-arounder Dolan has to figure out which events to swim but should make the team in the 400 free and 400 individual medley. Van Dyken has changed coaches and undergone two shoulder operations since '96 that have caused her to give up the 100 butterfly, an event she won in Atlanta, but she's a good bet for at least a freestyle relay spot. Gary Hall Jr. and Amanda Beard are iffy. Hall swam a blistering 22.13 in the 50 free at the 1999 summer nationals but is up against diabetes, which was diagnosed in March 1999. Breaststroker Beard, who won three medals in Atlanta at age 14, has replaced her teddy bear with a tongue stud and inconsistent performances. Are there any likely first-time U.S. Olympians we'll be hearing about in Sydney? Plenty. Lenny Krayzelburg could win gold in both backstroke events; converted golfer Ed Moses and high school junior Megan Quann are the best of the U.S. breaststrokers; Neil Walker, who missed a spot on the 1996 4x100 free relay by .13, is now America's best 50 and 100 freestyler, the U.S.-record holder in the 100 fly and the world's second-ranked 100 backstroker. Will the team include an African-American for the first time? Yes, but the question is which one ... or ones? Cal sophomore Anthony Ervin set a short-course world record of 21.21 to win the 50 free at the 2000 NCAAs. Baywatch actor Sabir Muhammad has the American short-course record in the 100 fly, but his best chance to make the team is in the 4x100 free. Byron Davis missed a 100 fly berth by .33 in 1996; if he qualifies, he would accompany his wife, Annette, a beach volleyball medal hopeful, to Sydney. Breaststroker Michael Norment has already made history once: In '97 he became the first black swimmer to make a U.S. national team. What's with those bodysuits? There's a new cover-up in swimming that has nothing to do with Michelle Smith. Many of the trials competitors will be wearing newly designed neck-to-ankle suits, which bead water, reduce friction and may cut times. In June, U.S. Swimming, claiming that not enough of the new suits would be available by August, banned them from the trials, but after protests from swimmers and a promise of availability by manufacturers the ban was lifted. Look for the suits to make a splash in Indy. Over four weeks in May and June, Ian Thorpe and Susie O'Neill of Australia, Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands and Tom Malchow of the U.S. have set world records in them.
EPO Testing: Last week, when the IOC announced conditional approval of EPO testing for the Sydney Games, "a lot of runners were celebrating," says Mark Wetmore, who coaches cross-country and track and field at Colorado and trains U.S. Olympians Alan Culpepper (10,000 meters) and Adam Goucher (5,000 meters). The implication was that the IOC had armed itself with a silver bullet to eradicate drug cheats and level the playing field. Wetmore's reaction was more measured. "It's important to think of this as a sincere step in the right direction," he said, "but I'm afraid the people who are getting excited haven't examined the proposed tests." EPO (erythropoietin) has been the wonder drug of the past decade for endurance athletes. Natural EPO is produced by the kidneys and liver and stimulates the creation of red blood cells. Synthetic EPO was developed to aid patients with anemia but can also dramatically increase oxygen-carrying capacity in athletes. "You've got to believe that EPO is a large reason that 5,000- and 10,000-meter times have come down so far in the last few years," says former U.S. marathoner Alberto Salazar. Elimination of EPO from sports would be a boon, but the testing to be done in Sydney is only a tiny move, and it invites skepticism. Penn State epidemiologist Charles Yesalis, an authority on performance enhancers, dismisses the new EPO test as nothing but public relations. "Too much money is involved in the Olympics to eliminate drugs," says Yesalis. "Plus, if I've learned one thing in 20 years of studying this, it's that the cheaters will always be ahead of the testers." —Tim Layden U.S. softball righthander Lisa Fernandez threw her 30th consecutive perfect inning to wrap up her fourth straight perfect game in Team USA's 11-0 victory against the Texas All-Stars on Aug. 2. ... Citing "exceptional circumstances," including a career without prior doping offenses as well as "the fact this is his last Olympics," the IAAF commuted the two-year ban of Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor , 32, to time served, making him eligible for Sydney. Sotomayor, the only man to clear eight feet, tested positive for cocaine at the Pan-Am Games last summer. His reinstatement was greeted with cynicism, even by IAAF vice president Arne Ljungqvist, who threatened to resign. "I know that he tested positive a few times," Ljungqvist told a Swedish news agency. (Sotomayor insists he never took drugs.) "I think that he should be suspended." ... Russian cyclist Zulfia Zabirova , the 1996 Olympic women's time trial champ, won her country's national time trial on July 30, three weeks after a fall during a road race left her hospitalized in serious condition with a head injury. ... Chinese sports officials have told Yueling Chen to take a walk -- but not in the Olympics. Chen, who won the 10-km walk for her native land at the 1992 Games, placed second in the 20-km walk at the U.S. trials last month. Because Chen, an American citizen since April, has been in the U.S. for less than three years, the USOC had to petition the Chinese Olympic Committee for permission for her to compete under her new flag. China refused to grant the clearance. ... Number of men among candidates for 14 IOC membership slots to be filled in September: 48; number of women: 0. ... After a $351 million overhaul, the Sydney Airport has had to shut down twice in the last month because of power failures.
Issue date: August 14, 2000
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