Who Needs Evans? U.S. Women Excel Without Biggest Name

Yes they can. They just did. Even with one of their best on the sideline.

The unheralded U.S. women’s swim team grabbed two gold medals Monday night at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, quieting the naysayers who said this would be a gold-free experience for them.

First, Beth Botsford, 15, won the 100-meter backstroke. Then, the U.S. relay team of Angel Martino, Amy van Dyken, Catherine Fox and Jenny Thompson set an Olympic record in the 400 freestyle relay.

A bunch of non-achievers? You can put that in the complimentary NationsBank lock-box along with those five round pieces of 24K.

“The host country always ends up breaking through when they’re not expected to,” said Thompson, who with her teammates watched Botsford and Whitney Hedgepath finish 1-2 before going out to compete. “We’ve been doing awesome. It’s like a chain reaction.”

Botsford couldn’t agree more.

“I think there’ll be more, lots more, because the U.S. has great women,” said Botsford, the first American woman in any sport to win a gold medal in these Olympics. “I read all the newspapers that said the USA is the underdog. The U.S. swim team is not the type to be discouraged by that. It totally motivated all of us. People are starting to realize that the United States is not the underdog here.”

If only four-time Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans had been there, too. Evans finished ninth in the morning preliminaries of the 400-meter freestyle, failing to make the finals for the first time since she can remember. But she’ll be back Wednesday morning with qualifying in the 800 freestyle.

Two Russian men’s swimmers, fresh off final training at the University of South Carolina Natatorium, won gold as well Monday. World-record holder Alexander Popov bested Gary Hall Jr. in the 100 freestyle finals. A short while later, Denis Pankratov, who broke Mel Stewart’s world record in June 1995, had almost a second to spare on America’s Tom Malchow in the 200-meter butterfly.

Hall held the lead after 50 meters. Halfway down the homestretch, it was a three-way tie with Hall, Popov and Gustavo Borges. As they neared the wall, it became a two-way race between Hall and Popov. Hall took a slight lead, but Popov led last, touching in 48.74 to Hall’s 48.81.

“It was a hell of a race,” Hall said. “Less than a 10th of a second, that’s what competition’s all about.”

Hall must wait until Thursday to compete again. “I’m looking forward to the 50-meters and have been - more so than the 100. I’m swimming better than anybody expected.”

Ireland’s Michelle Smith continued to raise American eyebrows with her second gold in as many days, this one coming in the 400-meter freestyle. This from a woman who came up empty in Seoul and Barcelona.

“The difference between here and Europe is a lot of people have seen me train over the last three years,” she said. “They’ve seen me improve. I haven’t competed in the U.S., so no one has seen me.”

Smith led most of the way in what was an anti-climatic race. The mostly American crowd had, no doubt, expected to be cheering the All-American, Evans. So when Smith defeated Germany’s Dagmar Hase with a time of 4:07.25, the best they could offer was polite applause.

American Cristina Teuscher finished last, swimming 4:14.21 in Lane 1.

Not to worry. Botsford and Hedgepath, Clemson’s new assistant swimming coach, soon came along to the rescue. Botsford won in 1:01.19; Hedgepath touched the wall in 1:01.47.

“We talked about going 1-2 - we’re not super-rivals,” said Hedgepath, who swam in the ‘88 Games but did not qualify for the ‘92 teams. She came out of retirement about a year ago, quitting her job as a sixth-grade teacher. “My goal was not to throw up or pass out when they called my name. All of this is a joy. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

Their success proved to be a motivational tool for Thompson, et al.

“We watched it in the ready room,” she said. “That really fired me up, them going 1-2 on the award stand, the crowd going crazy. It was great.”

So was van Dyken’s second leg of the relay. Martino, the former Furman swimmer, led off with a 55.34; van Dyken ripped through the water in 53.91, the second-fastest relay split ever, then handed off to Catherine Fox, who swam a 55.93.

“I really felt confident when I dove in because we had the lead,” said Thompson, who brought the race home in 54.11 for a time of 3:39.29. “It was an awesome job by the whole team. I swam my own race and coming off the wall, no one was going to catch me.”