Hoop Dreams Now, Olympics Can Wait

There are Olympic dreams . . . and then there is Dave Salo’s recent Olympic dream.

Salo, coach of the Irvine Novaquatics and 14-year-old prodigy Amanda Beard, had a distinct preview of the women’s 100-meter breaststroke Olympic final the other night in dreamland.

“Amanda went 1:06.2,” Salo said.

The world record is 1:07.46 by Penny Heyns of South Africa. But there was more to it. “She was second to Penny Heyns, who went 1:06 flat,” he said. “That was the only dream I’ve had.”

Said Amanda Beard: “I never remember any of my dreams.”

For now, the teenager considered by many to possess the best chance for a gold medal next month is concerned with reality--and the present. Mainly, the struggles of her team, the Chicago Bulls.

“I’m watching the finals,” she said. “It’s the Sonics 2, Bulls 3. They started doubling up on Michael [Jordan]. So that probably hurt the Bulls a lot.”

She was talking hoops during the prelims at the Swim Meet of Champions at Mission Viejo on Saturday. Beard didn’t swim the 200 breaststroke because Salo opted to change up the pace with a fun, low-key 50-meter freestyle. She went 29.58, didn’t reach the finals but will swim the 100 breaststroke today.

Part of the process is attempting to minimize pressure, and Salo is doing his creative best to help.

“Originally we were going to go to Santa Clara [in late June],” he said. “I just chose to remove her from a lot of the expectations, the film crews.”

One continuing area of contention has been the insistence of U.S. Swimming wanting the athletes to report to Atlanta on July 9 and then going to a training camp at Knoxville, Tenn. Salo and Beard’s parents were concerned about the impact of such a long absence from home since the youngster has never been away for more than a week.

A form of compromise was reached, and Salo will be with Beard in Knoxville and has been assured he will have complete access to his swimmer during the Olympics.

“That’s what some of our concerns are,” he said. “It’s the environment. The way I deal with Amanda in regard to the Olympics is it’s just a swimming meet. You’re not going there to win a gold medal, you’re going there to race and have a good time. But within the framework of United States Swimming, some of these athletes are competing for $50,000 and they’re uptight about it. The stress they have is very different than the stress and pressure on Amanda.

“You want to relax that stress. A lot of times younger kids reflect what’s going around them, thinking, ‘If everybody else is stressed out, then maybe I’m supposed to be too.’ ”

Swim Notes

USC swimmer Kristine Quance set two meet records as she won the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:30.87, and shortly thereafter, the 400 individual medley in 4:45.37. “I was just trying to finish the race,” she said of the 400 IM. “After the 200 breaststroke I was worn down and was hoping it wouldn’t hurt. But it did.” Other winners on Saturday included Jessica Deglau (2:04.95) in the 200 freestyle, Richard Bera (1:54.76) in the 200 freestyle, Sergey Mariniuk (2:20.03) in the 200 breaststroke and (4:27.70) in the 400 IM, Junko Nakatani (27.17) in the women’s 50 freestyle and Gary Hall Jr., (23.44) in the 50 freestyle.