GOODWILL GAMES : Barrowman Record Brings World-Class Stature to Opening Day

Hoping for at least one world record Friday to give Goodwill Games II credibility as a world-class athletic competition on its opening day, organizers were rewarded for their blood, sweat and deficit-spending with three.

Because all three records came in the same race at the King County Aquatics Center, the impact was somewhat limited. But it was one great race.

Mike Barrowman, a University of Michigan senior from Potomac, Md., won the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:11.53, bettering the previous record he set last August in Tokyo by a staggering 1.36 seconds. No other swimmer had improved the record in the event by more than that since 1976.

Although they did not challenge Barrowman, Kirk Stackle, a recent University of Texas graduate from Penasquitos, Calif., and Sergio Lopez, a Spaniard who competes for American University in Washington, also broke the old record of 2:12.89. They tied for second place in 2:12.24.

Barrowman, 21, said that he was surprised by his time but not by the fact that the race produced a world record. He trains with Lopez in Maryland under Hungarian Coach Jozsef Nagy and knew from recent workouts that they both were ready for a fast swim. Lopez’s time earned a European record, a first for a Spanish swimmer.

“My friend and I have trained a lot harder than we did last summer,” Barrowman said. “This is the first time I ever came into a competition not being nervous, completely relaxed. Something inside said I knew I was going to swim well and don’t worry about it. That’s very unusual for me.

“But I am very surprised by the time. If somebody had asked me before the race, I would have said that we might swim 2:12.88. I would have been happy with anything under 2:12. But 2:11.53 is not something I thought was a reality. It was more like a dream.”

If there was a record to be set on the opening day of the 17-day, 21-sport Goodwill Games, organizers anticipated it most likely would come in swimming’s first event, the 50-meter freestyle.

Considering that the race’s co-favorites, Tom Jager and Matt Biondi, have broken the record in the event eight times since 1985, no one who values his money would have bet against it.

In 19 meetings at either 50 meters or 50 yards since 1984, Jager, formerly of UCLA and now of Tijeras, N.M., had won 13 before Friday. But Biondi, who graduated from Cal and now lives in Castro Valley, Calif., won the big one at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He also won six other medals, five golds.

Many in the sellout crowd of 2,472 were still filing into the new arena between Seattle and Tacoma when Jager and Biondi were scheduled to swim.

Fortunately for some of the late arrivals, there were two false-starts by anxious rivals.

“That was their only chance,” Biondi said, dismissing East Germany’s Nils Rudolph’s beating both him and Jager this month in Santa Clara.

Before that, Jager had won the last four meetings with Biondi and led in this one for about 25 meters. But Biondi overtook him and then held off a late surge about 10 meters from the finish to win in 22.10 seconds. Jager was second in 22.31, well off his world record of 21.81. Rudolph was fourth in 22.61.

Biondi, who has complained because swimmers are not being paid for competing here while athletes in some other sports are receiving thousands of dollars, valued the victory as an advertisement for the “Dash for Cash” match races that he and Jager are staging.

“It’s important for me and for the sport of swimming that I’m seen as a viable contender in the 50,” he said. “Tom’s been beating me up pretty bad. It’s good for me and for the sport to know that I can beat him.”

Interrupted Jager, “It was all planned.”

In the other featured event, the women’s 800-meter freestyle, Janet Evans’ only problem came about 10 meters into the race, when she lost her goggles. She won in 8:28.47, and second place Anke Moehring of East Germany swam 8:33.44.

A closer race was expected. Evans, the gold medalist in Seoul, was joined by silver medalist Astrid Strauss of East Germany and bronze medalist Julie McDonald of Australia. McDonald was fourth and Strauss fifth.

“I thought the field might have been faster,” said Evans, a Stanford sophomore from Placentia. “I kind of hoped it would be more exciting.”

Biondi and Evans were stars of the U.S. swimming team in Seoul, but Barrowman was one of its few disappointments. After setting an American record in the 200 breaststroke at the U.S. trials in Austin, Tex., he was favored to win at the Olympics. But he finished fourth.

He said the pain has been eased by the three world records he has set since then in the event. But he has not forgotten it.

“I hope it continues to haunt me,” he said. “If it stops, that means it’s time to stop swimming. Setting records helps, but I hope it still burns down there.”