Friendly Rivals Soar in Butterfly

Dara Torres was sneaking looks at Jenny Thompson in the next lane in the 100-meter butterfly final at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials. Ultimately, she couldn’t quite shake her Stanford teammate.

Thompson spotted a smiling Torres at her news conference after Thompson defeated Torres on Thursday night and then stumbled over a question about the state of their friendship. And so, she couldn’t quite get rid of her Stanford teammate, either.

Somebody is watching somebody. No, this isn’t Big Brother. How about Big Sister in a Fastskin suit?

Like it or not, Thompson and Torres are stuck with each other. Thompson won the opening round, qualifying for her third Olympic team, winning the 100 butterfly in 57.78 seconds. Torres, 33, who came out of a seven-year retirement, made her fourth Olympic team, placing second in 57.86 at the Indiana University Natatorium.

Still to come are the 50 and 100 freestyles and, maybe, the 200 freestyle. Thompson, haunted by her failure to qualify in an individual event at the ’96 trials, deliberately avoided reading newspapers and hearing other reports about the rivalry.

The event lived up to the buildup. Torres broke Thompson’s American record in the preliminaries Wednesday, and Thompson came back with the best time of the semifinals.

In Thursday’s final, Torres got off to a good start and led at the 50-meter mark--26.50 seconds to Thompson’s 26.56. But Thompson won the race in the final 25 meters. Their coach, Richard Quick, duly noted that both women turned in better performances the day before.

“I was pretty frustrated with the last 25 because I knew both of them were not swimming as well as they should have been,” he said. “They didn’t manage the race the way they should have. They got caught up in a race with themselves. . . . They tried to do something else. I don’t know what, but it wasn’t the right thing.”

Said Torres: “When I got to 75 [meters], I started peeking to see where she was and I started to rush my stroke and I tightened up. This was a learning experience for me to know I really need to concentrate on swimming my own race and not worrying about anyone else.”

Torres and Thompson hugged in the pool and beamed. Given the circumstances of their often-tense rivalry--they once trained together but now work out separately--Torres was asked who initiated contact. She laughed.

“I know, it was totally fake,” Torres said. “No, that was real. I was so psyched. She just made her third Olympic team. I made my fourth. I was psyched for myself and I was psyched for her.”

Said Thompson: “I think we’re both very competitive. Um, but . . . yeah, we’re friends when it comes down to it. It hasn’t always been easy, but we make the best of it.”

With the proper ego management, these rivalries can work to the benefit of the swimmer. Thompson and Torres acknowledge they have made each other a better swimmer.

“If they’ll accept it, it’s their best advantage,” said Mark Schubert of USC. “Even though at times they’ll hate it, it is their best advantage. They have to take advantage of the situation. In ‘96, Lenny [Krayzelburg] made Brad [Bridgewater] better.”

In addition to Part I of Torres-Thompson, the second day was highlighted by two more American records and an Olympic trials record. In the morning preliminaries, 16-year-old Megan Quann went 1:07.12 in the 100 breaststroke, breaking her record of 1:07.54, set in March.

“I was going for the world record,” Quann said.

The other American record was at night as Ed Moses won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.44. The previous mark (1:00.77) was set by Jeremy Linn four years ago.

Finally, Krayzelburg of Studio City established a trials record in the semifinals of the 100 backstroke in 53.67. Jeff Rouse had held the record of 54.07, established in 1992.

Krayzelburg was pleased. His parents, Oleg and Yelena, were still nervous well after the race, with his mother saying: “My stomach aches.”

The most surprising result came in the 400 individual medley. USC’s Erik Vendt, 19, finished in a personal-best 4:13.89, which was second just behind world-record holder Tom Dolan. Dolan won in 4:13.72.

Vendt’s best event is the 1,500 meters, and he looked like the most thrilled athlete on the deck.

“Just chaos, utter chaos,” Vendt said. “I just hadn’t expected to go that fast. Right now I can’t describe how happy I am. It’s a lifetime of work paying off.”

Two-time national champion Bobby Brewer did not qualify for the final of the 100 backstroke, but considering his star-crossed week, it was surprising he even reached the semifinals. Brewer hit his left ankle on the metal edge of his hotel bed on Tuesday night and went to the emergency room the next morning. “I couldn’t do the start, couldn’t do the turn. I couldn’t kick,” said Brewer, 26, a member of the Huntington Beach-based Team TYR. “The negligence of the hotel cost me 20 years of my dream.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

U.S. Olympic Trials

Today’s schedule:

8 a.m. EVENTS

* Women’s 200 freestyle heats

* Men’s 200 butterfly heats

* Women’s 200 individual medley heats

5 p.m EVENTS

* Women’s 100 backstroke final

* Men’s 200 freestyle final

* Women’s 200 freestyle semifinal

* Men’s 100 backstroke final

* Women’s 200 individual medley semifinal

* Men’s 200 butterfly semifinal

* Women’s 100 breaststroke final

*

DIANE PUCIN

They are unattractive and uncomfortable, but full-length suits are here to stay. Page 11