Q&A; with Janet Evans : Life is Still Going Swimmingly for Placentia’s Olympic Champion

Fame has been kind to Janet Evans, owner of three gold medals from the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. It has embraced her, but not smothered her. Remarkably, Evans remains mostly unaffected and unimpressed by her swimming performances of a summer ago.

All she did, of course, was win a gold medal in the 400 individual medley, followed by golds in the 400 freestyle, where she lowered her own world record, and the 800 freestyle, which she won with surprising ease. So convincing were her victories that even her competitors were in awe.

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

And this from Evans’ Olympic coach Richard Quick, who now runs Stanford’s program: “I’d say Janet Evans is the most exciting thing. . . . She’s what we’ve been looking for.”

Evans generally responds to such compliments with a toothy grin and a modest reply, something to the effect that she was simply doing her best.

She returned home to Placentia and El Dorado High School a hero of sorts. There were parades and banquets and interviews galore. Then slowly the requests subsided. You might even say her life has returned to normal--almost.

Still to be resolved is Evans’ choice of college. As might be expected, Evans is the most sought-after high school swimmer in years. Her decision to forgo endorsement money in order to remain eligible for National College Athletic Assn. competition set off a furious recruiting effort by the country’s top college programs.

This past week, Evans and her family listened to the pitches from the final three left in contention: the University of Texas on Tuesday, Stanford University on Wednesday and the University of Florida on Thursday.

Evans will consider her options today and is expected to make a decision Monday.

Evans recently talked about post-Olympics life and what her plans are for the future. The conversation:

Question: How about taking us through your everyday schedule?

Answer: Well, it’s pretty much like last year: practice for 5:15 to 7. Then I go to school from 8 to 12:30. Then I go home and do homework. I lift weights three times a week and that’s from 3 to 6. Then I come home, finish dinner and go to bed at about 8:30. I’m out like a light.

Q: How long have been trapped in this routine?

A: I’ve been doing this since I was a freshman in high school.

Q: Ever consider calling in sick once in a while?

A: Sometimes I feel like skipping one day. The alarm rings at 4:30 and you just want to go back to sleep. But then I remind myself that it’s worth it.

Q: Do you ever worry about missing out on things?

A: Nah. I go out on weekends. I do things with friends. I’ll watch TV.

Q: How do you cope with the lull in the swimming calendar? In other words, what motivates you to keep swimming?

A: The Olympics are just every four years, I know that. But I like to swim. I want to keep swimming. There’s Nationals and CIFs. Next year, there’s the NCAAs. Those are things that you want to get geared up for.

Q: Any difficulties adjusting to being a celebrity? For instance, do your friends at El Dorado High keep you in line?

A: They just treat me like Janet. They like me for me. They understand what I have to do. When I can’t go out or when I can’t do things, they just say, ‘Oh, she just can’t do it.’ They understand.

Q: Has the celebrity status subsided a bit?

A: I think the hoopla has calmed down. I still have to go to dinners and stuff sometimes. But everything is pretty much back to normal.

Q: You had an opportunity to take advantage of your Olympic successes when you returned. There were offers of commercials and endorsements. Why did you turn them and the money down?

A: I wanted to keep swimming. I wanted to go to college and swim (NCAA rules prohibit such endorsements). I’ve always looked forward to that. I also think my training would have suffered. I wouldn’t have had my normal routine. And it would have been a full-time job. I’m only 17. I wasn’t in it for the money. I think it was tempting in the beginning. You could be on TV, make a million dollars and be set for life. I didn’t ignore that. But I’m happy with my decision.

Q: You understand the attraction companies might have for you?

A: Yes. I was young and I was marketable. I was a 17-year-old who had won three gold medals.

Q: Can you say who was interested in hiring you as a spokesperson?

A: Disneyland was there. So was a soft drink company.

Q: Your times have improved so markedly during the last several years. What do you do when they finally even off?

A: I keep working hard now. I know there will be a time when the times won’t keep plummeting down. When the times don’t continue to peak, well, I haven’t really thought about that.

Q: Are you ready yet to tell everyone how you do it: How you swim so fast?

A: They just say that I have a real good feel for the water, that I make the water move.

Q: Looking back, are there one or two memories that stand out from those Olympic Games in Seoul?

A: I would just say that it was being there with all the friends, the people representing the USA. But with the Olympics only once every four years, and the buildup was so long, once they came, it seemed like a flash. I don’t remember a lot of it.