It was about as good as it gets, and even the Americans had to admit that it was so.
Australia’s Ian Thorpe, the boy wonder, and the United States’ Gary Hall Jr., the wild child, were locked in a furious battle in the final leg of the men’s 4-x-100-meter Olympic freestyle relay Saturday night. Down the stretch they came, the water in an angry boil around them, one sprinter’s stroke almost a mirror of the other’s. Synchronized swimming, indeed.
When it was over, when Thorpe had out-touched Hall by a layer of ectoderm, the Americans’ record of never having lost an Olympic men’s relay race was history.
And it was good. It was good not for the fall of an empire but for what was gained in the effort.
This race certainly will raise the temperature of a U.S.-Australia rivalry, but for one magical night at the Olympic Aquatic Center, two talented relay teams went toe to toe and fingertip to fingertip, showing the world that the Games can sometimes still be about struggle and drama and all the other corny things that have nothing to do with drugs or bribes.
They are about a wholesome 17-year-old who broke his own world record in the 400 freestyle Saturday night, then came back less than an hour later to help the Australians shatter the world record in the freestyle relay.
“I doff my swim cap to the great Ian Thorpe,” Hall said.
The “Thorpedo” got some big help from his friends. In the opening leg of the relay, Michael Klim broke the 100 freestyle world record, bettering Alexander Popov’s six-year-old record by three one-hundredths of a second. It was a stunning start and a not-so-subtle hint of what was to come.
Thorpe said he had to make sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him when he saw Klim’s time flash on the scoreboard. He checked it again and then informed his teammate, who was in his own world.
“Oh,” Klim said.
“No, Michael, you went 48.18,” Thorpe said.
Then it sunk in. The Australians were officially off to the races.
They had the lead for most of the relay, but Hall went out hard the first 50 meters on the anchor leg and led Thorpe. Hall is the American team’s free radical, a man of impulse, so it was no surprise that he tried to win in one gulp.
“I went after it,” Hall said. “This is the Olympics. It’s all or none.”
The historians will say that this race was decided by centimeters, but in reality, Thorpe won by two feet, both size 17. Thorpe used those paddle-boat feet, his raw power and his smooth stroke to track down Hall and pass him at the last possible moment.
“The last part of that race is an absolute blur to me,” Thorpe said. “I swam as hard as I could and as fast as could.”
The Australian team of Klim, Chris Fydler, Ashley Callus and Thorpe finished in 3:13.67. The U.S. team of Anthony Ervin, Neil Walker, Jason Lezak and Hall went 3:13.86. The old record was 3:15.11, set Aug. 12, 1995.
This was a night of records by fast swimmers in what is considered a fast pool. The U.S. women’s 4-x-100 freestyle team of Amy Van Dyken, Dara Torres, Courtney Shealy and Jenny Thompson shattered China’s 1994 world record of 3:37.91, finishing in 3:36.61. It was Thompson’s sixth career gold medal, all in relays, tying her with East Germany’s Kristin Otto for most gold by a female swimmer.
Ukrainian Yana Klochkova also set a world record in winning the women’s 400 individual medley in 4:33.59.
“Everybody who bought a ticket [Saturday night] for swimming definitely got their money’s worth,” Hall said.
Thorpe alone was worth the price of a front-row seat. He broke his own world record in the 400 freestyle by almost a second, going 3:40.59 and detonating a home crowd primed to explode at the first rumor of Australian success.
“I wasn’t feeling all that fresh, so I knew I had to work on it to get as far ahead as I could,” Thorpe said. “I was trying to get farther and farther ahead so if anyone challenged me I still had enough to win. I wasn’t going to let anyone beat me at that stage.”
American Klete Keller won a bronze medal with a time of 3:47.00.
In Sunday’s early action, four Americans qualified first in their respective heats, Megan Quann in the women’s 100 breaststroke, Lenny Krayzelburg in the men’s 100 backstroke, Brooke Bennett in the women’s 400 free and Tom Dolan in the 400 IM.
Thorpe, though, was still the story. He has a chance to win four gold medals at these Games. He’ll go for his third Monday night in the 200 freestyle, an event in which he owns the world record. In Sunday morning’s prelims, he set an Olympic record in 1:46.56.
Just another day in the life of the boy who would be king.
