SWIMMING / PAN PACIFIC GAMES : Martino Back in Olympic Picture

Denied a berth on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team because of a positive drug test, Angel Myers Martino proved that she is in contention for a place on the 1992 team with an American record Friday in the 100-meter freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships.

Martino led a U.S. haul of seven gold medals, one of which nearly was lost when the women’s 800 freestyle relay team was initially disqualified. An official ruled that three-time Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans dove in before teammate Whitney Hedgepeth touched the wall.

National team director Dennis Pursley challenged the disqualification, saying that the official erred and that the videotape showed that Evans’ foot was on the starting block after Hedgepeth’s hand touched the wall.

The officials ruled in favor of the United States, and the Americans will receive their gold medals today.

The same relay team was disqualified at the World Championships in January when Nicole Haislett left too soon.

Martino eclipsed Haislett’s 55.17-second record in the morning preliminaries with a 55.14 clocking at the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre, the 11th-fastest time in history.

Martino, who maintains that the substance that cost her a 1988 spot on the team came from her birth control pills, doesn’t believe she is at risk now under the drug-testing system.

“It will not be a problem,” she said.

Martino, 24, ended her retirement last July when she began training with University of Alabama Coach Jonty Skinner. After a difficult winter adjusting to a grueling training program, her third-place finish in the 100 freestyle and her winning effort in the 50 freestyle at U.S. Spring Nationals in April marked her return to the national level.

“Certainly for her it’s a passion,” Skinner said of the Olympics. “She had tremendous goals. Then she closed her eyes, and when she opened them up it was all gone. Then she realized that you get only a few chances, and that it was not going to kill her to get back to where she was before.”

Martino is more motivated than ever.

“I feel fresh mentally,” she said. “It feels great to be back in the sport.”

In the final, Martino clocked a 55.34 for the gold medal, to Haislett’s 55.63.

Australia won the remaining gold medals with Linley Frame’s 100-meter breaststroke victory and Kieren Perkins’ triumph in the 1,500 freestyle.

With a $12,500 incentive from a cereal company, Perkins went after Vladimir Salnikov’s 1986 world record 7:50.64 in the 800 freestyle, but he missed by four one-hundredths of a second.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Perkins said. “I had to look twice (at the clock).”

The 18-year-old from Commercial, Queensland, was on a world-record pace the entire way. Although he did not hold his breath through his last four strokes, Perkins refused to second-guess himself.

Summer Sanders of Roseville, Calif., became the first individual double gold medalist of the meet with her victory in the 400 individual medley in 4:41.46. Kristine Quance, a 16-year-old from Northridge, earned the silver, her first medal in international competition.

American Mike Barrowman, the 200 breaststroke world record-holder who has recently begun competing internationally in the 100 breaststroke, won the shorter race in a hotly contested battle with Australian Philip Rogers.

Barrowman touched in 1:02.02, only seven one-hundredths of a second ahead of Rogers, the record-setter at last month’s Los Angeles Invitational.

Swimming Notes

Placentia’s Janet Evans, the 1988 Olympic gold medalist in the 400 individual medley, did not qualify for the championship final in that event because Kristine Quance swam a faster time in preliminaries.

Americans Eric Namesnik and David Wharton took the gold and silver in the men’s 400 individual medley. Namesnik, 21, of Butler, Pa., clocked a 4:18.40, the eighth-fastest time in the world this year.

Matt Biondi, the world record-holder in the 100 freestyle, won his specialty in a disappointing 49.72, 1.3 seconds slower than his 1988 world mark.