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U.S. women swimmers defeat All-Stars

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Posted: Friday July 31, 1998 12:17 AM

Thompson anchored the U.S. women to victory over the All-Stars AP

UNIONDALE, New York (AP) -- Jenny Thompson thought she was tired after a tough night at the Goodwill Games. Then she remembered how grueling, and successful, Cristina Teuscher's night had been.

"I am so spent," Thompson said after holding on in the final decisive event, the 400-meter freestyle relay. "The last 5 meters were fuzzy and in slow motion, like I was in `Saving Private Ryan.'"

A night before, the final relay was the downfall of the U.S. men against Germany. This time, the U.S. team won.

The American women gained a 65-57 victory over the World All-Stars with a relay triumph anchored by Thompson, a five-time Olympic gold medalist. But Thompson said the real hero was Teuscher, who won the 800 and 400 freestyles and swam an outstanding third leg on the final relay.

"I shouldn't be complaining," said Thompson, 25, of Dover, New Hampshire, holding her cramping side. "Cristina had a tougher night and she did a tremendous job."

"At least it got easier as the night went on - from 800 to 400 to 100," said Teuscher, of New Rochelle, New York. "On relays, the energy and momentum take over. But I was pretty nervous about the three races I had to do."

The dual meet victory over the All-Stars put the Americans on the inside track for the team gold medal.

The two teams each won seven of the 14 events, but the United States won the meet because it finished 2-3 in five of the seven events the All-Stars won.

"It was a team effort because every single place counts in a dual meet," said Lea Maurer, 28, of Crestwood, New York, who won both backstroke events and swam a leg on the medley relay.

Thompson swam the butterfly leg on the medley relay and won the 100 butterfly in the seventh-fastest time in history, just five minutes before the freestyle relay.

No U.S. woman besides the three veterans won an individual event.

But Richelle Fox of Scotia, New York, played a big role in the freestyle relay. Swimming first, she took a one-second lead over Rania Elwani of Egypt.

Sylvia Bereknyei of Pittsburgh, California, maintained a half-second edge over Nadezhda Chemezova of Russia before Teuscher completed her grueling night by extending the margin to 1.3 seconds over Wilma Van Hofwegen of the Netherlands.

Martina Moravcova of Slovakia cut into the margin against Thompson, but couldn't catch her. The times were 3 minutes, 45 seconds for the United States and 3:45.39 for the World team.

"It was slow motion, but I made it to the wall," Thompson said.

In the other dual meet Thursday, Germany defeated China 80-42, the second straight defeat for the formerly formidable Chinese women's team.

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