The gold medalist was telling stories, cracking jokes, selling swimming when a nervous publicity person suddenly appeared above his shoulder.
Could he please leave the room?
The dais belonged to another gold medalist.
“Ohhh, Michael Phelps is next,” said Gary Hall Jr., raising his eyebrows and his voice as he walked out the door. “Can’t keep Michael Phelps waiting.”
OK, so somebody had to say it, the message finally and appropriately delivered Friday by America’s big-mouthed sass.
These Olympics are about more than one swimmer. This U.S. team has room for more than one personality.
That the U.S. Olympic Committee has ordered its athletes to make nice does not mean they have to make meek, or make quiet, or make do.
“Defiance,” Hall said with a grin. “It’s fun.”
It’s also very American, which Hall illustrated Friday in 22 seconds worth of I-told-you-so.
Bumped off relay teams he had anchored for three gold medals in previous Olympics, the oldest guy in the pool at one month shy of 30, Hall showed up anyway and won his second consecutive 50-meter freestyle crown. He won his specialty in 21.93 seconds, only 1/100th of a second ahead of Duje Draganja of Croatia and 9/100ths of a second ahead of South Africa’s Roland Schoeman.
After the race he flexed his muscles and bowed to the crowd and laughed.
“This was my most emotional race,” Hall said with a little smile. “I don’t know why. I haven’t figured it out yet.”
Here’s a hint:
He won when his coaches surely thought he would lose.
He won when his teammates had thought he had lost it.
He won from an outside lane, with an outside chance, as the ultimate outsider.
“It’s hard to take me seriously sometimes,” Hall said. “But you can’t deny it gets results. It’s OK to have fun.”
By having fun Friday, he was once again a thorn in the side of a U.S. swimming body that has spent the entire week dressed in Michael Phelps.
But it can be argued that Phelps’ success should not have come at the expense of other swimmers, which is what happened to Hall on Sunday when he was left off the 400 freestyle relay team in favor of Phelps, who had not swum the proper qualifying races.
Then, when Ian Crocker showed up ill, team officials still didn’t call Hall, which probably cost the U.S. a gold medal. Hall disappeared, and many thought his meet had ended.
“I didn’t want to come across as bitter,” Hall said Friday. “But I was bitter. I very much wanted to be part of the relay team. I’ve been part of it for so long.”
He showed up for the final Friday while breaking another team rule: He was wearing his trademark, flag-covered Everlast boxing shorts and robe.
Who knows? Maybe the Greek god Apollo’s last name was Creed.
“I’ll probably get in a lot of trouble for not wearing a team uniform,” Hall said. “But it’s my lucky robe. If you believe in that stuff, maybe they’ll make an exception.”
The problem is, they really don’t believe in Hall, which is why he also is not on the 400 medley relay Saturday.
“Our relay is pretty well set,” said Eddie Reese, the U.S. coach., who added that Hall was simply not fast enough during the preliminaries to warrant placement on the 400 freestyle relay team.
“There is no protocol,” he said.
Yet Hall is known for swimming better in finals. And although Reese allowed Phelps to make the decision to give up his spot in the medley relay, he shunned Hall without discussion.
“They told me I couldn’t do well in 1996 because I was too immature,” Hall said. “Then in 2000, it was because I had diabetes. Then they said this year I was too old.”
Which, of course, means only one thing.
At Beijing in 2008, an old swimmer will be showing up for no other reason than to keep Michael Phelps waiting.
“Why not?” Hall said.
Also Friday, Jenny Thompson advanced to the final of women’s 50 freestyle along with American teammate Kara Lynn Joyce.
