Good Show By Goodell

What makes this exchange particularly ludicrous is that it is getting harder to call Goodell a negative-split swimmer. He will turn 20 next week, and at 5'10" and 160 pounds, two inches taller and 15 pounds heavier than he was at Montreal, he has become stronger, faster and more inclined to take charge in a race. "I'm able to go out harder now and still come back strong," Goodell says. "I'm getting closer to even splits." Sure enough, in the final of the 500, Goodell went out hard against Hackett, turned inches ahead of him at both 100 and 200 yards, then pulled away to win—a new tactic but a familiar result.

It is Goodell's improving speed that has emboldened him to consider adding the 200 freestyle to his Olympic program. His potential at the distance was evident in Cleveland when, leading off UCLA's 800-yard freestyle relay, he went up against Tennessee's Andy Coan, who earlier that evening had set an American record of 1:35.62 in the 200 freestyle and later in the meet would also establish one in the 100. Goodell had swum shortly before, too, and no final conclusions can be drawn from the confrontation between two tired men. Still, it seems at least noteworthy that Goodell easily out-swam the Tennessean on his leg, touching in an impressive 1:35.93.

But can Goodell realistically hope to swim the 200, 400 and 1,500 at Moscow? The fact is that nobody has ever swept those three events at the Olympics, and while Tim Shaw did so at the 1975 world championships, he was the first to admit that there was no logical way to train for all three events simultaneously. Goodell believes otherwise, that it is possible. Still, in view of the lesson he learned last summer, he is not talking about dazzling Moscow. But that didn't stop a friend from saying so, right? "Brian can do it," Bartle added. "There's no doubt about it." Goodell smiled slyly, the way any kid next door might.