Evans Wins a Gold Medal in 800 Meters

Placentia’s Janet Evans had hinted that a gold medal in Thursday’s 800-meter freestyle at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona might be the perfect way to end her brilliant swimming career.

But with that medal in hand, she hedged.

“I’ll take a long break and think about education,” Evans said. “I want to get a college degree. But the sport has given me a lot. I think if I miss it, you’ll probably see me out there again.”

That would be good news for U.S. swimming fans and bad news for competitors. Rebounding from a disappointing second-place finish in Tuesday’s 400 freestyle, Evans dominated the world’s best distance swimmers Thursday, becoming the first competitor to win back-to-back Olympic gold in the 800.

Evans, 20, led from the start and finished four body lengths and almost five seconds ahead of runner-up Hayley Lewis of Australia. Her winning time of 8 minutes 25.52 seconds was 9.30 seconds slower than the world record she set in 1989.

Evans now has four gold medals and a silver in her Olympic career; she won three golds in the 1988 Games in Seoul. She said the effort required to win them--training up to six hours a day--prompted her to consider retirement. But the bad memories faded considerably after Thursday’s victory.

“It’s been hard but it’s taught me a lot about life,” she said. “There’s been hard times and good times. The bad times make the good times feel so good.”

Details in Sports.

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