Right here, right now

No better time for Thompson's swimming comeback

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Jenny Thompson seems to have timed her comeback perfectly.

A little over a year ago, Thompson was swimming laps in a 15-yard pool while at Columbia University's medical school.

"A small pool, maybe three or four strokes to finish a lap," she said. "That was enough at that point. I hadn't been in the water in a year and half and I was getting tired."

Still in medical school and with just a month of solid training, Thompson claimed her first individual gold medal in a major meet since 1998 by winning the 100-meter butterfly Monday at the Swimming World Championships.

She finished in 57.96 seconds for her record 11th medal in world championship competition. Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland was second Monday in 58.22, followed by Martina Moravcova of Slovakia in 58.24.

Thompson's performance was one of the highlights on a day in which world records were broken by Matthew Welsh, Kosuke Kitajima and Leisel Jones.

Welsh, an Australian, won the 50 butterfly in 23.43 seconds, shaving 0.01 off the mark established by Geoff Huegill on July 27, 2001, in Fukuoka, Japan.

Kitajima gave Japan gold in the 100 breaststroke in 59.78. That erased the old world record of 59.94 set by Roman Sloudnov of Russia at Fukuoka on July 23, 2001.

Jones set her record in a semifinal heat of the women's 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:06.37. The Australian erased the mark of 1:06.52 set by Penelope Heyn on Aug. 23, 1999, in Canberra, Australia.

The 30-year-old Thompson didn't set a record -- though she did put up the seventh-fastest 100 butterfly time in history.

All eight of her Olympic gold medals came in relays. She thinks that could change next year at the Athens Games.

"It's a great feeling to be able to come back, and right before the Olympic year," she said. "It gives me confidence about my prospects."

Thompson is about to begin her third year of medical school, but plans to withdraw in December to train full time for the 2004 Olympics.

"At first I didn't miss swimming at all. I was totally out of the loop," she said. "I hardly knew what was going on ... but then I began to get the itch."

Fellow American Natalie Coughlin, billed as the country's most versatile female swimmer in a generation, had a rough day.

Swimming with a 102-degree temperature, she finished last in the 100 butterfly final and failed to qualify for the 100 backstroke semifinals.

"Thankfully I have a couple of days off," she said.

"I'm just a little weak from not having slept and not eating too much, but otherwise I think I'll get better in next two days."

Russia leads the medal table with 15 medals, including eight golds. China has 13 total (four golds), followed by Australia with nine total (four golds), and the United States with eight total (two golds).

 

Related information

Stories

World records tumble at swimming championships

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video