Michael Phelps was taking no chances.
As the other seven swimmers sat on chairs to await the final of the Olympic 400-meter individual medley Saturday night, Phelps took a towel and wiped his starting block. Then he wiped his feet before stepping up for the start.
Cold feet aren’t an issue for the 6-foot-5-inch swimmer who bestrides the 2004 U.S. Olympic team like a colossus. Wet feet might have been, and there was no way Phelps was going to risk a slip that might have led to a false start.
Barely four minutes later, the 19-year-old from Baltimore got the U.S. started with the first of what team officials hope will be at least as many medals as the 97 won four years ago in Sydney.
That goal, voiced by acting U.S. Olympic Committee Chief Executive Jim Scherr, takes into account what may be a diminished return from an Olympic track team weakened by the doping problems of several star athletes.
“We expect to have a performance that will equal or better that of Sydney, and we do not believe those [doping] issues will affect the performance,” Scherr said.
The performance of Phelps, who won the 400 individual medley in world-record time of 4 minutes 8.26 seconds, and silver medalist Erik Vendt certainly augured well. They repeated the 1-2 finish by two U.S. men, Tom Dolan and Vendt, in the same race at the 2000 Olympics.
“USA! USA!” chanted their teammates in the stands behind the finish line. In all four swimming finals, the leading U.S. finisher set an American record.
By the end of Saturday night’s program, the U.S. swimmers had added two silver and one bronze to put their country second to China in the overall Olympic medal count with 13 of 300 events completed. The Chinese lead 6-5.
“Tonight’s races are really going to start something,” Phelps said. “In Sydney we had Erik and Dolan go 1-2, and for the rest of the meet it was history. Hopefully we will be able to feed off this, and it will carry us to being the greatest swim team of all time.”
No U.S. athlete other than Phelps was expected to win gold on the first full day of Olympic competition. And none was more heavily favored to win one than Phelps, who has dominated the 400 IM for two years.
“One down, six to go,” he said.
Phelps was referring to races, not gold medals. Phelps might be able to match U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz’s record total of seven golds in a single Olympics, but Phelps has said repeatedly his objective was a single gold.
“My goal is right here,” Phelps said, picking up the medal that hung around his neck. “I am perfectly happy right now.”
He was fighting back tears while awaiting the medal presentation and the playing of the national anthem. As it began, he and Vendt removed the wreaths from their heads–wreaths are going to all medalists as yet another reminder the Olympic tree of life is rooted in Greece–and put their hands over their hearts.
Phelps’ non-aggressive arm pump was the only gesture he or Vendt made as they walked off the podium and left the pool deck.
A similarly low-key, respectful attitude could help when the world tires of what may be called “Play it Again, Uncle Sam.” The crowd at the Olympic Aquatics Center had only a positive reaction when it was heard Saturday for the first time.
“I am the luckiest silver medalist in the world right now,” Vendt said. “It would be great to win a gold medal, but I got to hear the anthem played for Tom four years ago, and I got to hear it again tonight.”
Other U.S. results were decidedly mixed.
Gymnast Paul Hamm of Milwaukee, the reigning world all-around champion, was the leading qualifier for Wednesday’s Olympic all-around final and also qualified for four individual events. The U.S. men qualified second for Monday’s team final.
The U.S. women’s soccer team beat Brazil 2-0 to gain a spot in the quarterfinals, as Mia Hamm scored a goal for the second match in a row.
Weightlifter Tara Nott lost any chance for a successful defense of her gold medal in the 48-kg class when she severely bruised her left leg on the second lift. She finished 11th.
“It’s not about winning, it’s about finishing no matter what the circumstances,” Nott said.
The U.S. women’s 4×100-meter swimming freestyle relay had its Olympic winning streak broken after three straight gold medals. Jenny Thompson, who anchored all three of those champions, found herself in the discomfiting position of getting caught on the anchor Saturday by Australia’s Jodie Henry.
“It was a change of pace for me to be passed by that much,” Thompson said.
It seemed of little consolation to Thompson that Henry had swum the fastest freestyle relay leg of all time (52.95 seconds).
Thompson, 31, is a medal count all by herself. The relay silver gave her 11 Olympic medals, tying Spitz, swimmer Matt Biondi and shooter Carl Osburn atop the career list for U.S. athletes.
“It doesn’t feel much different than 10,” Thompson said. “Thirty or 10, that’s a lot of medals.”
In four Olympics, she has won eight golds, all on relays, so she knows as well as anyone what Phelps was feeling.
“Standing in front of 10,000 people, hearing the national anthem, seeing the Stars and Stripes, there is nothing better in the world than that,” Phelps said.
As the anthem played, his lips moved almost imperceptibly, forming the words to a song written in his hometown nearly 200 years ago.
“I was singing to myself,” he said. “I’m not a very good singer. I didn’t want anyone to hear me.”
All was not pleasant everywhere. Iranian judo athlete Arash Miresmaeili dropped out of the Games rather than compete against Israeli Ehud Vaks.
