Beard Happier at Hometown Meet

ABC wanted her there, as did the Santa Clara Swim Club. But Amanda Beard decided to stay close to home and swim in her club’s meet this week.

With U.S. Olympic teammates Janet Evans, Gary Hall, Kristine Quance, Annette Salmeen and Brad Bridgewater competing in Santa Clara, meet officials were hoping that Beard would make the trek. And as for ABC, Dan Beard, the father of the 14-year-old breaststroke specialist, said the network called him twice.

“They really wanted her to come up there and compete,” Dan Beard said. “They told me that her presence would bring a lot to the meet.”

Irvine Novaquatics Coach Dave Salo said the Santa Clara meet would have been counterproductive.

“I chose to remove her from that meet to keep her out of the limelight and hype,” Salo said. “It got a little bit out of hand recently and I thought it would be best for her that she remain low key.”

Said Dan Beard: “I think it was a good decision by Dave. She’s going to leave July 9 and won’t return until Aug. 7. That’s a long time to be away from home. In the last two weeks, she has been having great workouts and, more importantly, her attitude has been great. So why rock the boat?”

Beard has even attracted the attention of the presidential campaign of Bob Dole.

“They wanted Amanda to make an appearance when he [Dole] came to Orange County,” said Dan Beard. “They also mentioned they would like her to make an appearance at the convention in San Diego. But I had to politely beg off.”

For most of Friday, Beard remained with her friends under the Novaquatic tent at the Junior Olympic qualifying meet, listening to loud music, laughing and braiding each other’s hair.

“Yeah, I’m glad I didn’t go [to Santa Clara],” Beard said before she swam her only event on Friday. “I like to stay close to home.”

With that said, she jumped on the block and swam the fastest preliminary time in the 200 individual medley for her age-group.

Right from the start, it was apparent that Beard was the marquee performer at this low-key, five-day meet.

“It’s really cool to have her swimming in this meet,” said Shirley Roberts, 16, who traveled from Atlanta with 50 of her Dynamo Club teammates to compete. “It’s not often you get a chance to swim against a swimmer who’s in the Olympics. But for me, it’s very inspirational. I look at Amanda, a 14-year-old, and it reminds me what I could possibly achieve.”

Roberts said that her teammates are staying with various Novaquatics families during their stay. Four of the club’s swimmers are with Beard.

“It was kind of funny,” she said. “When we found out that these four swimmers would be staying with Amanda, everybody was jealous. I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend a few days with Amanda Beard?”

Erin Zehntner, 14, a Novaquatic teammate who also competed with Beard at Irvine High, has known Beard since the seventh grade. And though Beard has been in the spotlight ever since she won both the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke at the Olympic trials in March, Zehntner said her friend has not changed at all.

“She is still very goofy and she doesn’t act any different,” said Zehntner. “She doesn’t really talk that much about the Olympics. And when I ask her about it, she really doesn’t seemed that concerned. But I did tell her that when she does win, that I want to see the medals and hold them.”