WORLD SPORTS SCENE : Spinning Records Gives Swimmer a Breather

In the past year, Tom Dolan has emerged as the premier U.S. men’s swimmer, and if he continues his meteoric rise, he might soon be the world’s best.

At last month’s NCAA championships, Dolan, a Michigan sophomore, set three U.S. records in three days, a feat last done by Matt Biondi in 1987. Dolan first showed promise when he won four titles at the 1994 U.S. spring nationals, the most since Mark Spitz. And at last September’s World Championships in Rome he set a world record in the 400 individual medley.

The 6-foot-7 Dolan’s accomplishments are all the more remarkable because he suffers from exercise-induced asthma and a narrow esophagus that allows only 20% of the normal oxygen intake. He also suffers from allergies that complicate his condition.

For a young man swimming 10 to 12 miles a day, such problems can be difficult to overcome. But it has made him a tougher competitor.

“We’ve turned it into something positive,” said Jon Urbanchek, Dolan’s coach at Michigan.

Dolan, 19, who lives in Arlington, Va., shrugs it off as inevitable. He figures his long, lean frame more than compensates for his lack of breath.

“I’m not happy everyday to get up [at 5 a.m.] and go to work out,” Dolan said, acknowledging there have been times he wanted to quit because of the stress on his lungs.

But he’s not about to stop now. After all, he has found a perfect relief to the thousands of yards he strokes each day: being a disc jockey.

“When I’m done with workouts I like to get away and not think about swimming at all,” Dolan said. “It’s the best way to come back refreshed. The whole DJ thing is a great outlet.”

*

Although nothing was ever proven, Chinese women distance runners’ remarkable ascent in track and field three years ago was highly suspicious to the anti-drug mavens of sport.

Those suspicions were reinforced last week at the Chinese national championships in Beijing when world champion Wang Junxia was 1 minute 2 seconds off Ingrid Kristiansen’s 5,000 meters world record. Wang set world records at 10,000 and 3,000 meters in 1993 when she and other top Chinese ran for Coach Ma Junren, who claimed his athletes’ success was related to drinking traditional medicinal concoctions and arduous training, not anabolic steroids.

Wang and most of her teammates left Ma this year, saying he was overly harsh. And suddenly their performances are unimpressive. Zhang Lirong, 3,000 meters bronze medalist at the 1993 World Championships, dropped out of the 5,000 at the nationals. Zhang Linli failed to reach the 5,000 final.

*

Mike Jacki, once one of the movers and shakers in the U.S. Olympic movement, will have to start over after he was ousted in late March as chief executive officer of U.S. Skiing.

Jacki, formerly the CEO of USA Gymnastics, met with resistance from coaches, sponsors and ski resort operators during his 15-month tenure with the skiing federation.

“I have my own ideas about what a governing body is supposed to do,” he said. “They just did not coincide with [the skiing community].”

Although the U.S. ski team was never more successful, the federation is facing a serious deficit that most blame on Jacki, who said a four-year deal with Chevrolet that he is negotiating will help. It might be Jacki’s legacy during his short stay in Park City, Utah.

*

Dennis Conner failed to keep the America’s Cup in America, so he might try to land an Olympic medal instead.

Conner is considering whether to try to race in the Olympic Solings class in the 1996 Games, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Conner won a bronze medal in the 1976 Olympics in a Tempest, a discontinued Olympic class.

World Scene Notes

Ed Eyestone, Paul Pilkington and Steve Plasencia have been named to the U.S. marathon team for this summer’s World Championships in Sweden. Olga Appell, Kim Jones and Elaine Van Blunk were selected for the women. . . . Mary Ellen Clark, 1992 bronze medal-winning diver, planned to resume workouts this week after missing almost three months because she suffers from dizzy spells on the high dive platform. . . . Fu Mingxia, the 1992 Olympic gold medal winner, withdrew from the 10-meter competition at the recent FINA-Alamo Grand Prix in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., although leading through the semifinal rounds. She wanted to give her younger teammates more international experience. . . . Kristin Folkl, Stanford’s volleyball/basketball star, is joining the U.S. women’s volleyball team this summer before deciding whether to stay through Atlanta or return to school. . . . With Miguel Indurain of Spain not competing, Tony Rominger of Switzerland is dominating the Tour of Italy through today’s 26-mile time trial from Telese Terme to Maddoloni, which marks the prestigious cycling race’s halfway point. Indurain has dominated the Giro the last four years but did not enter because he plans to ride in the Tour of Spain in September. . . . Former Tennessee guard Dena Head, considered likely to make the U.S. women’s national basketball team, had to leave tryouts because of a severe knee injury.