Washing out a stain
ATHENS — The four swimmers who made up the 4x200 relay team for the United States aren’t old enough to remember anything about the world record in the event. But 17 years to the day when East Germany established the mark — making it not only the longest-standing record in swimming but one that carried a taint of suspicion — they found out fast.
A “WR” — the abbreviation for world record — lit up on the matrix board alongside their final time of 7:53.42 and sent the U.S. team into a celebration of high-fives and hugs. The time was more than 2 seconds faster than the East German record.
“We’re pretty tough chicks,” cracked Kaitlin Sandeno, who swam the anchor leg. “Yeah, we’re pretty bad.”
The four U.S. swimmers were either toddlers, or in the case of Dana Vollmer, not yet born, when East Germany set the record in Strasburg, France, on Aug. 18, 1987. But that record, though always recorded in the books, was viewed with suspicion. Several East German athletes admitted after the fall of the Berlin Wall that they were administered performance-enhancing drugs.
Still…
“That (the record) in itself is a feat whether it was tainted or not,” Sandeno said.
Natalie Coughlin, the only U.S. female swimmer who had won a gold medal going into Wednesday, swam leadoff and almost instantly dropped back to fifth the first 100 meters. But she kicked in gear in the final 100, touched the wall in 1:57.74 and provided her teammates with a lead they would never relinquish.
“I might have made some people nervous going out as slow as I did,” Coughlin said. “I was conservative on the first 100, and then lights-out the second 100. I got real excited, especially when I started passing all the other girls.”
Coughlin’s time would have won the 200 freestyle, raced Tuesday. But Coughlin didn’t go in the race, passing it up in order to concentrate on the relay.
With the brisk winds of the past few days having been reduced to a mild breeze, the pool was far faster Wednesday that it had been and records fell in several events. Michael Phelps set an Olympic mark in winning his semifinal heat of the 200 individual medley, putting him into Thursday’s final, when he’ll gun for his fourth gold medal of the Games. Aaron Peirsol of the U.S. also set an Olympic record in a qualifying heat of the 200 backstroke. And Australia’s Jodie Henry set a world record in her semifinal heat of the 100-meter freestyle.
But it was the relay record that left mouths agape.
When Sandeno got out of the water, she asked her teammates about the record just to make sure.
“That was a world record, right?” Sandeno asked. “Yeah, by two seconds!”
The United States has now won six swimming gold medals of the 20 awarded through Wednesday. Phelps is either wholly or partly responsible for three of those golds. The only other individual gold medals won by U.S. swimmers belong to Peirsol in the 100-meter backstroke and Coughlin in the 100 back.
But they have fallen slightly short of expectations in several other events, finishing third in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay and failing to qualify a swimmer in the finals for Wednesday’s men’s 100 freestyle.
“For all of us in the finals tonight, we were surprised there were no Americans,” said Ian Thorpe, who became the most decorated Olympian ever from Australia when his bronze in the 100-meter freestyle gave him six career medals. “It was kind of unusual.”
Pieter van den Hoogenband successfully defended his gold medal in the event. Thorpe was third.
Brendan Hansen of the U.S. also won a bronze in his event, the 200 breaststroke, but he closed out his Olympic experience disappointed.
Hansen said the pressure got to him after establishing world records in both the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke six weeks ago at the U.S. Trials. Hansen said it’s not an easy task.
“Maybe it is for (Phelps), but it’s not for the rest of us,” Hansen said. “I had to bust my butt to get on the team and I paid for it here. I broke both world records and then I come here and I don’t win a race.”
A handful of U.S. swimmers kept their medal hopes alive Wednesday when they qualified for upcoming finals: Coughlin and Kara Lynn Joyce in the 100-meter freestyle, Amanda Beard in her specialty, the 200-meter breaststroke, and Peirsol in the 200 backstroke.