Word: seoul
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Fullerton, Calif., mid-July. Bud McAllister sits hunched against the early morning chill, his conversation teleporting from East Germany to Seoul, his eyes fixed on Lane 1 of the big outdoor pool at Independence Park. It is 7:15 or so, and 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...
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...
...Myers fiasco was a personal disaster, and there was no question that a likely gold medalist had been lost to the team. Still, at Seoul, the U.S. would have the smallest world beater in Evans; one of the largest and most awesome in Biondi; and, unless one of the East Germans has managed to grow gills, by far the spookiest in Berkoff, the vanishing backstroker. Bring on that Korean water...
Like Matt Biondi plowing through the water, his face ablaze with ferocity and ambition, the athletes are bound for Seoul. In a special section, TIME spotlights the five-ring extravaganza, from the most exciting competitors and competitions to the most intriguing bits of lore and trivia. -- Heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Decathlete Daley Thompson are coming to assert a kind of athletic kingship. -- Swimmers Biondi and Janet Evans have appointments in Korea with a hoard of medals -- the question being just how many. -- For a swarm of mitey gymnasts, the contest beyond gold seems to be for the affection...
...Czech about the size of a parking meter, who ran all day and all night with his shirt peeled up and his tongue rolled down. When Zatopek raced, hearts raced. Whoever his modern descendant might be -- the Moroccan Said Aouita, likely as not -- he will almost certainly be in Seoul. Besides North Korea, only Cuba, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Albania and the Seychelles have demurred. For the first time since the bleak year of 1972, practically the whole world is expected...