THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 9 : Evans Finishes Shopping for Gold, Heads for ‘Mall’

She came, she saw, she won three Olympic gold medals.

She went shopping.

Janet Evans, the dynamo from Placentia, wrapped up her Olympic performance with a victory in the women’s 800-meter freestyle Saturday night and heaved a big sigh of relief.

She came here to win three events, and she did just that:

--She won the 400-meter individual medley on the first day of competition.

--She lowered her own world record in winning the 400-meter freestyle.

--She completed her sweep by winning the 800 with ease, stroking steadily away from another big, strong East German swimmer.

Evans finished the 16 lengths of the pool in 8 minutes 20.20 seconds, swimming easily and not even threatening her own world record of 8:17.12. Silver medalist Astrid Strauss of East Germany finished in 8:22.09, and Julie McDonald of Australia followed in 8:22.93 for the bronze.

Bud McAllister, who coaches Evans’ Fullerton Aquatic Sports Team, had said after seeing her shatter her own world record in the 400 that he was confident she would get her third gold medal in the 800. She had stayed under control early in the 400, picking up the pace as she went, finishing strong but with power to spare.

“She still had something left when she finished the 400,” McAllister said, still somewhat awed at protege Evans, who has never ceased to amaze him. “She’ll be fine in the 800.”

And so she was. Once again, the 5-foot, 5-inch, 101-pound Evans stepped to the top of the awards platform, where even from the top step she could stand only eye to eye with her challengers.

Now she can go back to being--as she so likes to put it--”just Janet.” She’s homesick, she said, and eager to get back to El Dorado High School in Placentia, where classes have started.

But first she intends to demonstrate to the people of Seoul another of her specialties--shopping. She says she shops with the same kind of determination and staying power that she exhibits in the pool.

She was heading for the famous shopping area of the city known as Itaewon, an area that she describes as “like a great big shopping mall.”

Her smile disappeared for a fleeting moment as she was struck by an unsettling thought. “I don’t know if it’ll be open,” she said. “I think it’s like Thanksgiving Day here or something.”

And when she gets home she wants to take a little time off from swimming.

“Just a couple of weeks,” she said. “Then I want to do it all over again. I love to swim. I guess that’s why I’ve been swimming for about 14 years.”

A reporter from a South Korean newspaper asked her why she didn’t get tired during her long races. When the interpretation of the question came to her, Evans laughed. “Everyone feels tired toward the end of the race,” she said. “I feel tired at the end. But my energy does hold out pretty well.”

That’s just Janet. Simple, understated.

Asked why she swims such long races, she laughed again. “I’m so little that as soon as I dive in with the bigger swimmers, they have a lead. In the shorter races, I don’t have time to catch up.

“I don’t have great natural speed, but I do have natural endurance. I do train long sets, too.”

When Strauss was asked about her strategy for the race, she talked only about holding off McDonald--quite a compliment to Evans, whose race strategy is always to take the lead and not give it up.

“Janet Evans will have the Mary Lou (Retton) effect on swimming,” U.S. Coach Richard Quick said. “We’ll see the little girls who are watching her now in about 8 years.”

There is no question that Evans, 17, has cemented her international reputation during the past week, not to mention charming people the world over with that smile. There will be no more snickers about her size. No more mocking her windmill stroke.

“Janet Evans is in a different dimension,” East German swimmer Heike Friedrich said. “A swimmer like Janet comes around once every 25 years.”