SWIMMING / THERESA MUNOZ : Golden Moments Are Forecast for U.S. Olympians

After a 1988 Olympic Games in which only two Americans, Matt Biondi and Janet Evans, won individual gold medals in swimming, the United States is expected to fare better at the XXV Olympics in Barcelona.

It will be interesting to see if the changes made by the governing body of the sport, U.S. Swimming Inc., including scheduling the U.S. Olympic trials four months before the Games instead of six weeks and separating the men’s and women’s teams, has a positive effect.

Several top coaches, including Stanford’s Skip Kenney, Michigan’s Jon Urbanchek and club Coach Paul Bergen of Napa, believe the best American men did not make the team because of the timing of the trials, which were during the college season.

Still, there are a few events in which American men appear to have a lock on gold medals.

Matt Biondi or Tom Jager should win the 50-meter freestyle, Melvin Stewart has no peer in the 200 butterfly and, except for a slip-up at the trials, Mike Barrowman appears unbeatable in the 200 breaststroke. Since finishing fourth in the ’88 Olympics, Barrowman has lowered the world record in his specialty five times.

Few will argue about the makeup of the women’s team. With a handful of young stars including Janie Wagstaff, Jenny Thompson, Summer Sanders, Anita Nall, Nicole Haislett and Lea Loveless, it is perhaps the best women’s team since 1972.

Thompson became the first American world record-holder in the 100 freestyle since 1933 when she clocked 54.48 seconds at the trials, and Nall, 16, lowered the 200 breaststroke world record twice to 2:25.35 at the trials.

At 20, Evans is the veteran of the team, and although she has not come close to her world records in the 400 and 800 freestyle, she has not been challenged at those distances since Seoul.

Here is a race-by-race look at what could happen in Barcelona, beginning July 26:

MEN 50 FREESTYLE: Gold--Matt Biondi (U.S.); Silver--Tom Jager (U.S.); Bronze--Alexander Popov (Commonwealth of Independent States). 100 FREESTYLE: Gold--Alexander Popov (CIS); Silver--Biondi (U.S.); Bronze--Stephen Caron (France). 200 FREESTYLE: Gold--Artur Wojdat (Poland); Silver--Massimo Trevisan (Italy); Bronze--Anders Holmertz (Sweden). 400 FREESTYLE: Gold--Kieren Perkins (Australia); Silver--Wojdat (Poland); Bronze--Evgeni Sadoviy (CIS). 1,500 FREESTYLE: Gold--Perkins (Australia); Silver--Jorg Hoffmann (Germany); Bronze--Glenn Housman (Australia). 100 BACKSTROKE: Gold--Jeff Rouse (U.S.); Silver--David Berkoff (U.S.); Bronze--Martin Zubero (Spain). 200 BACKSTROKE: Gold--Zubero (Spain); Silver--Royce Sharp (U.S.); Bronze--Vladimir Selkov (CIS). 100 BUTTERFLY: Gold--Anthony Nesty (Surinam); Silver--Vladislav Kulikov (CIS); Bronze--Pablo Morales (U.S.) 200 BUTTERFLY: Gold--Melvin Stewart (U.S.); Silver--Martin Roberts (Australia); Bronze--Keiichi Kawanaka (Japan). 100 BREASTSTROKE: Gold--Norbert Rosza (Hungary); Silver--Vasili Ivanov (CIS); Bronze--Nick Gillingham (Britain). 200 BREASTSTROKE: Gold--Mike Barrowman (U.S.); Silver--Gillingham (Britain); Bronze--Karoly Guttler (Hungary). 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: Gold--Tamas Darnyi (Hungary); Silver--Zubero (Spain); Bronze--Ron Karnaugh (U.S.). 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: Gold--Darnyi (Hungary); Silver--Eric Namesnik (U.S.); Bronze--Luca Sacchi (Italy). 4X100 FREESTYLE RELAY: Gold--United States; Silver--Germany; Bronze--Commonwealth of Independent States. 4X200 FREESTYLE RELAY: Gold--United State; Silver--Commonwealth of Independent States; Bronze--Italy. 4X100 MEDLEY RELAY: Gold--United States; Silver--Commonwealth of Independent States; Bronze--Canada. WOMEN 50 FREESTYLE: Gold--Jenny Thompson (U.S.); Silver--Angel Martino (U.S.); Bronze--Yang Wengyi (China). 100 FREESTYLE: Gold--Thompson (U.S.); Silver--Nicole Haislett (U.S.); Bronze--Yong Zhuang, China. 200 FREESTYLE: Gold--Haislett (U.S.); Silver--Thompson (U.S.); Bronze--Mette Jacobsen (Denmark). 400 FREESTYLE: Gold--Julie McDonald (Australia); Silver--Janet Evans (U.S.); Bronze--Hayley Lewis (Australia). 800 FREESTYLE: Gold--Evans (U.S.); Silver--McDonald (Australia); Bronze--Lewis (Australia). 100 BACKSTROKE: Gold--Krisztina Egerszegi (Hungary); Silver--Lea Loveless (U.S.); Bronze--Janie Wagstaff (U.S.) 200 BACKSTROKE: Gold--Egerszegi (Hungary); Silver--Wagstaff (U.S.); Bronze--Loveless (U.S.) 100 BREASTSTROKE: Gold--Anita Nall (U.S.); Silver--Samantha Riley (Australia); Bronze--Linley Frame (Australia). 200 BREASTSTROKE: Gold--Nall (U.S.); Silver--Jill Johnson (U.S.); Bronze--Riley (Australia). 100 BUTTERFLY: Gold--Crissy Ahmann-Leighton (U.S.); Silver--Qian Hong (China); Bronze--Summer Sanders (U.S.). 200 BUTTERFLY: Gold--Sanders (U.S.); Silver--Susan O’Neill (Australia); Bronze--Mika Haruna (Japan). 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: Gold--Sanders (U.S.); Silver--Lin Li (China); Bronze--Haislett (U.S.) 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: Gold--Egerszegi (Hungary); Silver--Sanders (U.S.); Bronze--Lin Li (China). 400 FREESTYLE RELAYS: Gold--United States; Silver--Germany; Bronze--Australia. 400 MEDLEY RELAY: Gold--United States; Silver--Australia; Bronze--China.

Swimming Notes

Mission Viejo is playing host to the national championships, Aug. 17-21, and the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena is the site of the Junior Nationals West, Aug. 7-11. Several ’92 Olympians are expected to compete in the national championships. . . . Sprinter Ayako Nakano of Japan signed a national letter of intent with USC. Nakano is a member of the Japanese Olympic team and was a Pan Pacific finalist in the 50 and 100 freestyles.