Biondi, Evans Trying to Prove Themselves, Despite ’88 Golds

Shouldn’t eight gold medals mean never having to say you’re sorry?

Those were some of the spoils that U.S. swimmers Matt Biondi and Janet Evans brought home from the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Biondi also won a silver and a bronze. So, perhaps naturally, both were a little bewildered with the notion that they had to prove themselves again Sunday at the King County Aquatics Center.

And when the third day of the Goodwill Games ended, Evans did not appear much more excited about her victory than Biondi felt depressed about his defeat.

“There’s far too much pressure to win in American sports,” Biondi said, shrugging off the loss but not his sub-par performance.

For Biondi, it seems as if more attention has been focused in the last two years on one of the two gold medals he let get away in Seoul than on the five he won.

In the 100-meter butterfly, he had a clear lead until the finish, when he misjudged his stroke into the wall and was out-touched by Surinam’s Anthony Nesty.

Biondi had an opportunity to even the score Sunday when he met Nesty in the same event for the first time since Seoul, but he failed.

As for Evans, one of the rare disappointments of her career came Saturday, when she lost for the first time in four years in the 400-meter individual medley. The surprise winner was fellow Californian Summer Sanders.

Although Evans did not react well to the theme of vindication suggested in Sunday’s newspapers, she did have an opportunity to continue her winning streak in the 400-meter freestyle. She has not lost in that event since 1987.

Her task did not appear simple because one of her competitors was 200-meter world record-holder Heike Friedrich of East Germany. In Seoul, Evans held off two surges in the last 50 meters of the 400 freestyle by Friedrich to win the gold medal in a world-record time of 4:03.85 that still stands.

Evans did not approach that Sunday, although her time of 4:05.84 was enough to win the race and tie for the fourth-fastest ever.

The surprise silver medalist, Haley Lewis, 15, of Australia, finished almost five seconds behind in 4:10.78. Friedrich finished seventh in 4:18.32.

So Evans is back?

Where did she go?

Even though she lost the day before, she said Sunday that she was more pleased with that silver medal--which came with a time that was only two seconds off her personal record in the 400 individual medley--than she was with the gold medal in the 800 freestyle that she won Friday night. She was 12 seconds behind her personal record in that race.

Asked at a news conference Sunday to describe her Saturday night, Evans said she went to a movie, dinner and bed. “It was nothing different,” she said. “You just have to put that (the loss) behind you, and you have to go on.”

Later, she asked a reporter, “What did people expect me to do, go back to the room and bawl my eyes out?”

Biondi said Evans was her same, cheerful self Sunday.

“She was just hopping around and supporting the team,” he said. “I don’t know why, but it seems like more people were interested in her loss yesterday than in her win today. Certainly, more people are talking about her loss than Summer Sanders’ win.”

Nesty can empathize with Sanders. His victory in Seoul is better known as Biondi’s loss.

Nesty, who swims for the University of Florida, said he was thinking about that before the start of Sunday’s rematch, which Biondi was expected to win.

“I was so nervous, I couldn’t stand it,” Nesty said. “I was big-time nervous. I guess that’s what Matt does to me.”

It showed in the first 50 meters, when Biondi, who was just off the world-record pace, had the lead. But Nesty caught him with 25 meters remaining and won a clear victory. His time was 53.42 to Biondi’s 53.82. The difference between them in Seoul was .01.

Biondi said that the loss did not upset him because Nesty has proved himself as better in the butterfly. But Biondi was upset with their times. Those same times in Seoul would have placed them fifth and sixth.

“The fact that I lost in Seoul helped me to train better in the butterfly, and I did,” Biondi said. “I got up at 5:45 every morning and would swim six hours a day, all for this moment. Then it happens, and I didn’t swim anywhere near as fast as I expected. That’s what makes this so disappointing.”

But the sun was still shining, something to be thankful for in the Pacific Northwest, and Biondi could still laugh.

“Let’s look at the good side,” he said. “I did finish a lot better than I did in ’88.”