De Bruijn a Sprint Favorite in Sydney

Swimming has a new superstar--and just wait till she gets to Sydney.

In two weeks beginning in late May, Inge de Bruijn tied or broke six world records, twice beating her own marks and winding up with four new world standards in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle and butterfly.

The Dutch swimmer has become a heroine in a country better known for producing gold-medal speedskaters.

Four years ago, de Bruijn was so unmotivated that her boyfriend-coach Jacco Verhaeren kicked her off the Dutch team even though she qualified for the Atlanta Olympics.

“Everybody said I was going to retire,” de Bruijn said. “No one paid any attention to me. Now here I am. In ’96 I gave up swimming and lived life to the fullest. I did everything that you can’t do when you’re a swimmer.”

De Bruijn believes the layoff and highly regarded American coach Paul Bergen are the reasons for her stunning turnaround, which make her the Sydney favorite in the three sprints (the 50 butterfly is not an Olympic event).

“I really feel like I’m floating on a cloud,” she said. “All the pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place. I can’t wait for the Olympics. It’s all I think about.”

But inevitable questions are being asked about the rapid rise of a 26-year-old swimmer--middle-aged by the sport’s standards--who spent much of the last decade as good but never great. She won her first major titles only a year ago at the European Championships in Istanbul.

These days, suspicions about performance-enhancing drugs surround any swimmer who suddenly begins shattering records or winning gold medals.

De Bruijn said she has passed seven drug tests beginning in late May when, in a two-week span, she set her world marks in meets in Monaco, Sheffield, England, and Amsterdam.

“I can understand the questions,” de Bruijn told the French sports daily L’Equipe. “My progression is significant, but I’m not the only one,” singling out, among others, Australia’s record-breaking teen-ager Ian Thorpe.

“People have to accept it. . . . People should know that I train like an animal. The progress is the result of a lot of factors and when you put them together, things happen.”

Comparisons have been made with Ireland’s Michelle Smith DeBruin, who came from nowhere at the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta to win three gold medals. She was later suspended for four years amid claims she manipulated a urine sample.

Like the Irish woman, de Bruijn has improved dramatically. She produced the 14th best time in the world in 1992 in the 50 free (25.84), but in the ’96 season she ranked only 64th.