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 Swimming: Treasure trove grows as U.S. outswims rival Australians
Saturday, September 23, 2000 By Paul Newberry, The Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- American swimmers made a mockery of their ballyhooed showdown with the Aussies.
Distance races, sprints, it didn't matter. They beat them long and short.
"A lot of people doubted us," Anthony Ervin said. "This shows everybody back home that we're still the best."
Ervin and Gary Hall Jr. outraced a star-studded field to tie for gold in the men's 50 freestyle yesterday; Brooke Bennett left everyone in her wake for a second consecutive gold in the women's 800 freestyle.
The three golds -- combined with Kaitlin Sandeno's bronze in the 800 -- finished off the host country.
"We have come out and dominated the waters," said Hall, who fired everyone up Down Under by stating beforehand his desire to "smash them like guitars."
Hall, who turns 26 next week, has sure come a long way from the teen-ager sitting in front of a television, playing video games until his father literally threw him in the pool.
"You can probably still see my footprint on his rear end," said Gary Hall Sr., a three-time Olympian. "If I had not done it, he'd still be sitting in front of that television."
Instead, Hall wound up on the top of the medal podium, a space he gladly shared with Ervin, 19, the first swimmer of black heritage to make the U.S. team.
Hall and Ervin hit the wall at the same time -- 21.98 seconds -- for an unprecedented tie in a men's Olympic sprint.
"It's not so much about fast times as it is about racing," Ervin said. "The fiercest racers wound up on top."
That competitiveness was honed over the summer, when they trained together in Phoenix. The Olympic final seemed like just another day at the practice pool.
Pieter Van den Hoogenband touched third in 22.03, claiming another medal for the Netherlands. Alexander Popov, the 28-year-old Russian Rocket who has dominated for a decade, came in sixth at 22.24.
Popov defeated Hall twice four years ago -- at 50 and 100 -- and came to Sydney seeking an unprecedented third consecutive double-gold. Instead, he settled for a lone silver in the 100.
"I don't know if this is where it ends, but it's very satisfying to beat him," Hall said.
Since Atlanta, Hall has endured a drug suspension for marijuana and a diagnosis of the shocking news that he has diabetes. Taking a half-dozen insulin shots a day to maintain blood sugar levels, he also maintained his place in swimming.
"It's very nice to overcome so much adversity," Hall said. "Diabetes is really a factor in my life, not just my swimming career."
Ervin was a virtual unknown at the beginning of the year, but those training sessions with Hall pushed him to a new level.
"I thought I would be shaking and nervous before the race," Ervin said. "For some reason, I felt at ease. I thought I would do one of my best performances."
Ervin and Hall jumped on the top step of the podium together, all smiles and hugs. It was a striking contrast to the previous night, when American rivals Dara Thompson and Jenny Thompson shared an uneasy truce as co-bronze medalists in the 100 freestyle.
Bennett has focused on the longer races since 1988, when an awestruck 8-year-old watched Janet Evans swim to Olympic gold in the 400 and 800 freestyle.
Now 20, Bennett followed up an 800 gold four years ago with an Evans-like double at these games.
"Janet was the distance queen of U.S. swimming and will be for a long time," Bennett said. "I do see myself getting closer and closer."
She set an Olympic record of 8 minutes, 19.67 seconds in the 800 -- lowering the standard of 8:20.20 that Evans set at Seoul. That also was the most recent last time a female swimmer won both the 400 and 800.
"We don't have to have just one queen," said Sandeno, who finished behind Bennett and silver medalist Yana Klochkova of Ukraine. "Why can't we have two?"
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