Beard Takes Third Turn Around These Blocks

The last eight years have not been good ones for Harold. Once a media darling, the object of television cameras, a focal point on the world athletic stage, he has been in a dusty closet since 1996, deserted and forgotten.

Until recently.

Until his owner, swimmer Amanda Beard, opened that closet door in her father’s house and was reunited with the teddy bear that she carried to the blocks with her in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

“He looked so small,” Beard said Friday, addressing the media after finishing first in the finals of the 100-meter breaststroke and a semifinal heat of the 200 individual medley in the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Long Beach.

It’s not that Harold has shrunk, of course. It’s that Beard has grown, from the precocious 14-year-old who became the second youngest U.S. Olympic medalist ever in her sport to a woman who qualified Friday for her third Olympics, having also swum at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

Beard has also matured from hugging her teddy bear to appearing in magazines in provocative poses and being linked romantically to Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe. The hot rumor was that Beard and Thorpe sneaked off to Las Vegas to get married, but Beard has denied that.

What cannot be denied is her ability to maintain her desire and determination in the pool through all of the ensuing years since her early success.

She won a gold medal in the 400 medley relay and two silvers, in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, in Atlanta, and came back to win a bronze in the 200 breaststroke in Sydney.

“I can’t think of any girl,” said Frank Busch, Beard’s coach, “who has been successful in the breaststroke as a young girl and then hung on, not only for the next Olympics, but for the next two Olympics.

“You just don’t see swimmers stay around that long, particularly females.”

To what does Busch attribute such devotion?

“She’s a Jekyll-Hyde,” he said. “She’s a nice girl away from the pool, but once she puts those goggles on, you don’t want to mess with her.”

That and Beard’s talent, of course.

“God has blessed her,” Busch said.

Beard swam the 100 breaststroke first Friday afternoon, finishing just ahead of Tara Kirk in a time of 1:07.64. Kirk came in at 1:07.69.

“I just reach my little fingernails out and hope I get there before anybody else,” Beard said. “It’s always a shock when you look up and see the No. 1 by your name. I never get used to that.”

It’s the same with making the Olympic team, according to Beard.

“You can’t get used to the feeling,” she said. “I would never get used to it even if I made it every four years.”

Still ahead for Beard is the 200 breaststroke.

“I always think of my 100 as a warmup for my 200,” she said

That’s got to be a scary thought for her fellow swimmers.

Her spot in Athens at the 2004 Games assured, Beard dived back into the pool Friday and won her semifinal 200 individual medley race in 2:12.02, followed by Katie Hoff (2:12.55).

“Swimming the 100 breast and doing so well kind of gets your adrenaline pumping,” Beard said.

“That was all I had to go on in the 200 IM. The hardest part was not letting myself celebrate too much after the 100, trying to conserve my energy for the next race.”

There will be a next race for Beard and another chance as far as she can see into the future.

“I really love swimming,” she said. “I love the training. I love everything I do with the sport. I thought I would retire after this year. But now, I want to go for four more years. And I’ll probably say four more after that.”

Harold’s future, on the other hand, doesn’t look so bright. He’s probably facing four more years in the closet.