Word: metering
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Women swimmers usually peak at age 15 to 17, and the East Germans are nearly geriatric by that standard. One of the squad's golden oldies, Kristin Otto, 22, is still a formidable all-around sprinter. But in order to take the gold in the 100-meter freestyle event, she may have to better her world-record 54.73-second time, which has stood, amazingly, since 1986. Says Otto: "I know I haven't reached my limits...
Middle-Distance Freestyler Heike Friedrich, 18, who learned to swim at age three and has competed since she was ten, will probably be matched in the 400 meter by Janet Evans, 17. And venerable Breaststroker Silke Horner, 23, may lose her Olympic dominance to Canada's powerful Allison Higson, 15. Predicts Friedrich: "Records will wobble in Seoul." The question is: Will the G.D.R. wobble...
...Janet Evans, the slight, frail-looking 16-year-old swimmer he coaches, has been churning up and down since 5:30. McAllister glances at his stopwatch. Evans, he says, looking a bit startled, has just swum an exhausting set of 20 400-meter freestyle segments, one after another. "That's a real big, tough set." What jolts him is that her last 400, done after 7,600 meters of swimming at race speed, is fast enough by several seconds to qualify for the U.S. Olympic swim team. A training performance of this kind is eerie. Later she is asked...
Evans, who holds world records in the 400-meter, 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle, has a lot of natural talent. This means that she has "good feel for the water," her coach says; "the water doesn't slip off her hands." But what makes Evans a once-in-a-generation rarity is her astonishing endurance. It is hard to see where she gets all of this gristle. Swimmers tend to be sizable, but last year, when she began setting world records, she was only a smidge over 5 ft. tall, and would have had to bounce...
McAllister believes if Evans' best event, the 1,500-meter free, were scheduled for Seoul (alas, it is not), "she would beat everyone by 25 seconds." He adds that if Evans could be persuaded to enter the very long races that are scheduled occasionally -- a 16-miler, say -- "she would beat the men." This may be true. The gender game doesn't prove much; other top women swimmers now equal men's records of 20 years ago. But it is interesting to learn that Evans' 4:05.45 world record for the 400-meter free beats Mark Spitz...