U.S. Goes And Gets The Golds
Phelps, Coughlin, Peirsol Set Standards

By Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

BEIJING, Aug. 12 -- It is easy, given the sequoia-sized shadow cast by Michael Phelps at these Olympics, to forget the other competitors here, each with their own pursuit, each with a defined goal. It would have been forgivable again Tuesday, when Phelps simply obliterated everyone, including South Korea's Park Tae-hwan, and everything, including the world record, in the 200-meter freestyle, his third medal in three events at the Summer Games.

But moments after Phelps casually extracted himself from the pool at the National Aquatics Center, Natalie Coughlin jumped in. The American women, without a gold to this point, had been doubted. Coughlin delivered a performance in the 100 backstroke that beat back such thoughts, topping the budding star here, Zimbabwe-born and Texas-trained Kirsty Coventry, for the same gold medal she won four years ago in Athens.

And just after that came the Americans' next great, Phelps-less moment. Aaron Peirsol, the peerless backstroker, swam from the normally obscure Lane 2. At the midway point of the men's 100 backstroke, he trailed by half a second. Yet when he touched the wall and whipped his head around to look at the scoreboard, he saw precisely the number he wanted to see: 52.54 seconds, a new world record, and another gold medal.

Just like that, in a span of 16 minutes, the United States had its best overall day at this swimming competition. Add to those performances -- the only individual golds not involving Phelps for the Americans thus far -- silvers for 100 breaststroker Rebecca Soni and 100 backstroker Matt Grevers, and bronzes for Peter Vanderkaay in the 200 freestyle and Margaret Hoelzer in the 100 backstroke, and what might have seemed like a lackluster meet for the overall U.S. team, save for Phelps, quickly turned around.

"I felt the way we swam this morning was like us," USA Swimming head coach Mark Schubert said. "This is the way we always expect to swim."

Coughlin and Peirsol helped, and if the meet is going to continue to carry momentum for the Americans, they will have to continue to do so. Coughlin, in particular, bears a heavy burden for the U.S. women. A member of all three relays, she will also swim three individual events. She and Katie Hoff are the only American women with such demanding programs.

"It's hard," U.S. women's coach Jack Bauerle said. "There's a lot of heat on them. Basically, they don't get a breath, any day. But you have to put the saddle on your best kids."

Coughlin, who sometimes fights the expectations that arrived even before a five-medal performance in Athens, carried the weight flawlessly Tuesday. Coventry entered the event with two medals in two races, and set the world record in the semifinals Monday -- 58.77 seconds. She could not, however, match it in the final. Coughlin easily touched first in a new American mark, 58.96, more than two-tenths of a second ahead of the Zimbabwean.

"When I first saw the time," she said, "I thought they had made a mistake."

There was no mistaking what Peirsol pulled off. "Hands down, he's the best back backstroker ever," Grevers said. Peirsol took a measured approach to this event, swimming casually in preliminary heats. Therefore, he swam from the outside, instead of the more advantageous center lanes awarded to the faster qualifiers.

His last length of the pool was blazing, faster than any of the seven other swimmers. When Grevers touched second behind Peirsol's world record -- .35 of a second faster than his previous mark -- he summed up the feelings of the competition. "I feel like it's gold after Peirsol," Grevers said.

By now, that must be what those who are lucky enough to be runners-up to Phelps believe. In the past two days, he has filled in the two holes on his Olympic résumé created four years ago in Athens. There, butterfly specialist Ian Crocker swam a poor leg on the 4x100 freestyle relay, and the Americans, including Phelps, were relegated to bronze. And the specter of the 200 freestyle had been there since Athens, too, the only individual race he entered there which he did not win. Here, anchor Jason Lezak delivered an unforgettable gold.

The specter of the 200 freestyle had been there since Athens, too, the only individual race he entered there which he did not win.

"I don't think that's a motivator for him," said his coach, Bob Bowman.

Perhaps not. But the loss -- to the then-superior Ian Thorpe of Australia and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands -- certainly pushed Phelps to improve in the event. And the way he handled that race four years ago, opting to challenge Thorpe at the height of the Australian's powers against Bowman's advice, has become a symbol of his impervious nature, the fact that he will back down from nothing.

Mark Spitz, who owns the record of seven golds at one Games that Phelps could break, said last month that he suspected that loss is the primary reason Phelps originally broke the world record, a record he seized from Thorpe.

"I think, in a way, yes," Phelps said.

The only unfortunate aspect to Tuesday's event: Neither Thorpe, who is now retired, nor van den Hoogenband, who dropped the event to concentrate on the 100 freestyle, raced against Phelps. The stiffest competition came not from Park or Vanderkaay -- but from himself.

"I wanted to get out in the open water," Phelps said. That was scarcely a problem, because as soon as his head first emerged after he dove in, he owned a healthy lead. Phelps touched in 1:42.96, a full nine-tenths of a second faster than his old world record, an incomprehensible 1.89 seconds ahead of Park.

When Phelps took the medal stand -- he is now tied with four other athletes, including Spitz and Carl Lewis, for the most gold medals in history, nine -- he looked poised, composed. Coughlin, though, broke down. "It hasn't really sunk in yet," she said, even though she had been there before.

Peirsol's eyes, too, welled up. He had won three Olympic gold medals before. He might win two more here. It didn't matter.

"You never get used to it," he said. "This is something you can't get used to."