SWIMMING : Diebel Got the Help When He Needed It

In his eagerness to credit Chris Martin for turning his life around, Nelson Diebel is quick to describe his turbulent adolescence.

Diebel, who became the second-fastest 100-meter breaststroker in history, will gain more exposure as one of 13 U.S. Olympians competing in the Olympic send-off meet today through Sunday at the Mission Viejo International Swimming Complex.

For the wholesome image of swimming, this type of exposure could be viewed as one disadvantage to scheduling the U.S. Olympic trials four months before the Olympic Games. After all, it gives Diebel more time to discuss his past.

But U.S. Swimming spokesman Jeff Dimond sees it this way: Diebel was saved by swimming.

Martin, the first black member of the U.S. Olympic swimming coaching staff, was his savior.

Moments after earning a berth on the Olympic team at the trials in March in Indianapolis, Diebel thanked Martin, saying: “He’s the reason I’m here. I wasn’t exactly a model citizen.”

Until he settled down under Martin’s thumb at the Peddie School in Highstown, N.J., Diebel left one high school “semi-voluntarily” and was “thrown out of another one.”

He wound up at Peddie only because he fibbed about his swimming ability to an admissions counselor intent on enrolling students with extracurricular talents.

In fact, Diebel, 21, was anything but a swimmer six years ago.

“I did a lot of drugs, drinking, and a lot of smoking,” Diebel said. “I wasn’t an athlete. I wasn’t anything. I was a rebel without a clue.”

Says Martin: “If you swim right, you have something. Your whole life gets better.”

Even after Diebel broke Steve Lundquist’s 1984 American record of 1:01.65 in the trials’ preliminaries with a 1:01.49, then lowered the record to 1:01.40 in the finals, Martin would not let Diebel off the hook.

“Here I was walking on clouds,” Diebel said. “Steve Lundquist, my idol, had just given me a hug. Then, Chris told me, ‘Nice swim, you’re still . . . .’ ”

Martin views the Mission Viejo meet, in which Diebel will swim the 200 breaststroke Saturday and the 100 breaststroke Sunday, as a chance to match conditions at the Games in Barcelona, Spain.

“It’s outdoors, there’s smog, the heat will be about the same and there’s a lot of traffic,” Martin said.

Swimming Notes

In addition to Nelson Diebel, the U.S. Olympians competing are Jeff Rouse, Stanford, world record-holder in the 100 backstroke; Pablo Morales, Stanford, world record-holder in the 100 butterfly; Royce Sharp, Peddie Aquatics, American record-holder in the 200 backstroke; Janie Wagstaff, Kansas City Blazers, American record-holder in the 100 backstroke; Eric Namesnik, Club Wolverine (Ann Arbor, Mich.), American record-holder in the 400 individual medley; Ron Karnaugh, Mission Viejo Nadadores, 200 individual medley; Joel Thomas, Pasadena (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Swim Team), alternate 400 freestyle relay; Crissy Ahmann-Leighton, University of Arizona, 100 butterfly; Joe Hudepohl, Cincinnati Marlins, 200 freestyle, 400 and 800 freestyle relays; Scott Jaffe, Jersey Gators, 800 freestyle relay; Doug Gjertsen, Texas Aquatics, 200 freestyle, 800 freestyle relay, and Ashley Tappin, Great White Sharks (Metairie, La.), 400 freestyle relay.

Today’s session begins at 4 p.m. and is limited to timed final heats of the women’s 1,500 freestyle and the men’s 800 freestyle. . . . On Friday through Sunday, preliminaries will begin at 9:30 a.m., finals at 5 p.m. . . . More than 450 swimmers are entered, including four members of the Polish Olympic team led by freestyler Artur Wojdat, a bronze medalist in the 1988 Olympic Games, who trains with Mission Viejo Nadadore Coach Terry Stoddard. The German Olympic team is represented by Nils Rudolph, a medal contender in the 50 and 100 freestyles. Members of the New Zealand, Brazilian and Mexican Olympic teams also are entered, including backstroke standout Anna Simcic of New Zealand and sprinter Gustavo Borges of Brazil.