Conquering Heroine : Amanda Beard Welcomed Back After Olympic Trial Swim Wins

A sign hastily written on notebook paper and held behind Olympic Swim Team member Amanda Beard’s back on Thursday said it all: Amanda Beard is Cool.

Even though she’s just a freshman at Irvine High School and is only 14, she’s cool, calm and collected about her two first-place finishes in the Olympic trials. And she’s super-cool in the minds of her classmates.

“We are really proud of her,” said 15-year-old Rohini Reddi. “It takes a lot of guts to compete in the Olympics,” Leah Holguin, 15, explained.

Thursday marked Beard’s first day back at school after the Olympic trials in Indianapolis, where the small but powerful swimmer dazzled spectators with a go-for-broke performance in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events.

She claimed the second-fastest time ever by an American in the women’s 200-meter race.

To celebrate her accomplishments, students at Irvine High surprised the publicity-shy Beard with a ride to school in a 1964 Bentley. She was greeted on the school steps by the pep squad, the jazz band and a throng of adoring peers.

“I didn’t want to get out of the car,” Beard said.

But she did, occasionally covering her face with her hands as she listened to students and staff praise her. “We are all rooting for you,” Principal Gail Richards said, as photographers and reporters jostled around Beard trying to record her every move, and students hooted and hollered. “Shouldn’t she be in Spanish [class]?” yelled one.

Beard accepted a bouquet of flowers and finely decorated cookies bearing congratulatory messages from the Student Council, which organized the event. She told reporters she was “a little bit” overwhelmed by the attention and also “embarrassed.”

After answering a slew of questions about what she has done since she arrived home Wednesday, and what she aims to do in the Summer Olympics (she’d like to break the American record and bring home a gold, silver or bronze medal--”any one” will do), Beard sought some protection from senior Wendy O’Brien, 17, also a nationally ranked swimmer. As she hid her head behind O’Brien’s shoulder, Beard appeared overcome with emotion and cried.

Though Beard was temporarily overwhelmed, her mother, Gayle Beard, who accompanied her to Indianapolis and to school Thursday, said Amanda is handling the local and national attention well.

“She’s doing fine,” Gayle Beard said. “She’s doing better than some of the rest in the family,” she joked.