SWIMMING / THERESA MUNOZ : Gross: Spitz Should Test Waters Before Trying to Fly

Two of the greatest butterfly specialists in swimming history, Mark Spitz and Michael Gross, got together last Thursday for an informal training session at UCLA’s Sunset Recreation Center.

Spitz, four-time individual Olympic gold medalist who held the 100- and 200-meter butterfly world records 16 times, is making a comeback after 17 years away from the sport.

Gross, winner of three individual Olympic gold medals for West Germany and holder of the 100- and 200-meter butterfly world records five times (including the current 200 mark of 1 minute 56.24 seconds), is working into top form after concentrating on earning his master’s degree the past two years.

Gross, 26, who disputes reports that he retired after the 1988 Olympic Games, won’t term either his effort or Spitz’s activity a comeback.

“Spitz is not really making a comeback because so far he hasn’t come back,” Gross said. “I suggest to him, maybe he should swim a few competitions, then he’ll know what he can do and what he cannot do.

“Training over the months gets boring, and maybe he gets too nervous. If the 100 fly is the first or second event (in the 1992 Olympic trials), maybe he makes a mistake and he’s out of business. After 17 or 18 years, times have changed a lot. He should swim once or twice and show the public what he can do--that’s pretty important.”

Spitz, 40, was not offended by Gross’ comments.

“All these guys that have heard of me but were too young to swim against me would love to compete against me and beat me,” Spitz said. “It’s sort of like, ‘Come on in and get me.’ ”

Spitz will finally give them a chance in February in a 100 butterfly exhibition that he is arranging. The field could include two-time individual Olympic gold medalist Matt Biondi.

“I am just in the beginning stages of getting into top shape,” said Spitz, who is training with UCLA Coach Ron Ballatore.

After the World Championships in Perth, Australia, Jan. 7-13, Gross says he plans to retire, regardless of how well he swims.

“After the Olympics, I was not in a mood to retire,” Gross said. “There was something missing; that’s what I’m going for at the World Championships.

“If I can’t swim faster than I have in the past, it doesn’t matter--I’m retiring. If I set some career bests, then I know that was the peak of my career and I’ll still retire. Sometimes you have to end that part of your life and go on to new things.”

Gross believes that he and American Melvin Stewart have a shot at his four-year-old 200 butterfly world record, but it won’t come easily.

“I was working for a 1:56 for three or four years,” Gross said. “On paper, it looks pretty easy, but when you swim it, it’s a different experience.”

East and West Germany are expected to send a combined team to the World Championships, which has Gross concerned. “It’s dangerous to put the teams together,” he said. “We have no experience in training camps. East Germany is like France or the United States to us, a foreign country. And right now, in one moment or one day, we are going to be one team?”

Gross is particularly worried about the West German female swimmers who have put off retirement until after the 1992 Olympic Games at Barcelona, Spain. Under a combined system, they are unlikely to make the team.

Although East Germany is struggling financially, Gross believes their facilities and coaches remain superior. “They are not losing their knowledge and the training they’ve done so far,” he said.

But Gross concluded: “It would be ridiculous (not to have a combined team). One unified nation and two teams--unbelievable I think.”

After 4 1/2 weeks of training and vacation here, Gross believes California is the best place to train. “You have all that sunshine, and besides the workouts, there are so many other things to do,” he said.

Swimming Notes

Beth Barr’s comeback from a serious arm injury continued last week when she won the 100- and 200-meter backstroke in the Legion of European Nations Cup at Rome. Barr, of Mission Bay, Fla., suffered a compound fracture of her right arm when she was thrown from a horse in May, 1989. The arm nearly had to be amputated below the elbow, and the pain remains so great that she had to undergo electrode treatments before her races two weeks ago in the U.S. Senior Long Course National Championships at Austin, Tex. . . . East German Coach Jurgen Tannenburger could have caught a flight from Berlin to Rome for the League of European Nations Cup, but he made the 14-hour drive simply because he was allowed to do so for the first time.

The fax machines were humming between the National Junior Olympics East meet in Boca Raton, Fla., and the National Junior Olympics West meet in Irvine last week. The winning times in each event were announced and compared each night over the public address systems and posted at each pool. The East wound up with the fastest times in 21 of the 33 events. The standout of the East meet was Bambi Bowman, 16, of Sarasota, Fla., YMCA. Bowman broke the oldest National Junior Olympic record when she swam the 1,500-meter freestyle in 16:46.32 seconds. The previous mark of 16:48.04 was set in 1980 by Jane Coontz of Evansville, S.C. Bowman also broke the 400 record with a 4:16.66 and won the 800. . . . Harvard-bound John Blaney of the Mission Viejo Nadadores won the 800-meter freestyle and the 400 individual medley in the West meet, but his best effort may have come in an event he didn’t win, the 1,500 freestyle. In finishing second to Chris Baskett of the CLASS Aquatics team of Calabasas, Blaney knocked 17 seconds off his previous best time.

Janet Evans and Matt Biondi will lead a 40-member U.S. contingent in the World Championships. The two fastest times in each event from the Goodwill Games in Federal Way, Wash., and the U.S. Senior Long Course National Championships were used to determine the American team. Two members of the squad, Keith Frostad of Sacramento and Royce Sharp of Houston, will be competing at the international level for the first time. The squads:

MEN: Freestyle, 50--Matt Biondi, Castro Valley, Calif.; Tom Jager, Tijares, N.M.. 100--Biondi; Shaun Jordan, Dallas; 200--Doug Gjertsen, Atlanta; Troy Dalbey, Phoenix. 400--Sean Killion, Cherry Hills, N.J.; Dan Jorgensen, Rancho Bernardo. 1,500--Killion; Keith Frostad, Sacramento. 400 relay--Biondi; Jordan; Jager; Jon Olsen, Jonesboro, Ark. 800 relay--Gjertsen; Dalbey; Olsen; Melvin Stewart, Ft. Mill, S.C. Backstroke, 100--Jeff Rouse, Fredericksburg, Va.; Scot Johnson, Tucson. 200--Rouse; Royce Sharp, Houston. Breast-stroke, 100--Eric Wunderlich, Atlanta; Kirk Stackle, Penasquitos. 200--Mike Barrowman, Potomac, Md.; Stackle; Butterfly, 100--Biondi, Mark Henderson, Ft. Washington, Md. 200--Stewart; Bart Pippinger, Orofino, Idaho. Individual Medley, 200--David Wharton, Westminster, Pa.; Eric Namesnik, Pittsburgh; 400--Namesnik; Wharton.

WOMEN: Freestyle, 50--Jenny Thompson, Dover, N.H.; Leigh Ann Fetter, Louisville. 100--Nicole Haislett, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Julie Cooper, St. Louis. 200--Janet Evans, Placentia; Haislett. 400--Evans; Erika Hansen, King of Prussia, Pa. 800--Evans; Hansen. 400 relay--Haislett; Cooper; Thompson; Ashley Tappin, New Orleans. 800 relay--Evans; Haislett; Whitney Hedgepeth, Roanoke Hills, N.C.; Mitzi Kremer, Titusville, Fla. Backstroke, 100--Janie Wagstaff, Mission Hills, Kan.; Jodi Wilson, Dallas. 200--Beth Barr, Pensacola, Fla.; Wagstaff. Breaststroke, 100--Tori DeSilvia, Syracuse, N.Y.; Tracey McFarlane, Austin, Tex. 200--Mary Ellen Blanchard, Norcross, Ga.; Jill Johnson, Lutherville, Md. Butterfly, 100--Chrissy Ahmann-Leighton, Tucson; Julie Gorman, Towson, Md. 200--Summer Sanders, Roseville, Calif.; Trina Radke, Allentown, Tex. Individual medley, 200--Sanders; Blanchard. 400--Sanders; Evans.

COACHES: Nort Thornton, Golden Bear Club team and University of California; Mark Schubert, Longhorn Club team and University of Texas.