Aussies Make Big Splash in Besting World Marks

So many world records fell during last week’s Australian Swimming Championships that it became top-of-the-page national news when 17-year-old Ian Thorpe went 24 hours without lowering a world standard of any kind--ending his personal streak at three records in three days.

But amid all the head-shaking times and hand-wringing over what the “fastskin” bodysuit has wrought, one world record brought the meet to a stunned standstill: Susie O’Neill breaking the oldest mark on the books--Mary T. Meagher’s 200-meter butterfly time of 2 minutes 5.96 seconds, set in 1981 when Meagher was 16.

Regarded as “Beamonesque” at the time she set it, Meagher’s record lasted nearly two decades before O’Neill was clocked at 2:05.81 Wednesday in Sydney.

“Finally,” O’Neill said after climbing out of the pool and entertaining the crowd at the Sydney Aquatic Center with what can best be described as an Aussie version of the Ickey Shuffle.

For six years, O’Neill had chased the record, going unbeaten in the 200 butterfly since 1994, winning titles at the Olympics, World Championships and Pan Pacific Games, but still remaining fractions of a second behind Meagher.

O’Neill broke her Commonwealth record with a time of 2:06.51 in Monday’s semifinals, but since it was slower than Meagher’s, she described her effort as disappointing.

Wednesday, after the new record flashed across the scoreboard, O’Neill called it “a huge relief.”

“Sometimes when you want something really bad it doesn’t happen,” she said. “I was starting to wonder. Tonight, coming into it, I was expecting not to get it.”

The victory was the 35th national title for O’Neill, 26. Before the meet, she had given herself four chances to break the record in the 200--the semifinals and the finals at the Australian championships and the Olympics, but doubted it would happen at the Summer Games.

“World records don’t often fall at the Olympics,” she said. “You tighten up a bit.”

She also chose not to wear the controversial “fastskin” bodysuit during the final stages of her pursuit, swimming instead in a more conventional neck-to-knee suit.

“I’m really glad I didn’t,” O’Neill said, “so no one could say it was the suit that swam a 2:05.

“I’m in a different situation to other people because I’ve been going for the record for so long. I really wanted to do it in ‘short swimmers’ just for my own peace of mind.

“I thought to myself that if I’d got it in the longsuit, I might have thought it was the suit that swam the time. Now I know it was me.”

MIXED EMOTIONS FOR MARY T.

How does one deal with the loss of a record that had survived 19 years of training and technological advances and challenges from chemically enhanced Chinese and East German swimmers?

Meagher, now 35 and living in the Atlanta suburb of Peachtree City, was, not surprisingly, conflicted when she learned the news.

“You couldn’t ask for a nicer, more deserving person to break your record than Susie,” Meagher, now known by her married name, Mary Plant, told Reuters. “I really admire her perseverance. She just missed it a few times but she kept working at it and finally did it.

“But there’s a certain sadness that my name is no longer in the record book.”

Looking back wistfully, Meagher mused about not going as hard as she should have in 1981 and putting the record further out of reach.

“I always felt I could do 2:04,” she said. “When I did 2:05, the last 25 meters felt real easy. At the finish, I thought, ‘I’m not tired, I could have kept going.’ ”

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THORPEDO, LOCKED AND LOADED

Thorpe’s itinerary for the Australian Championships, not the typical to-do list for your average 17-year old:

Saturday: Break world 400-meter freestyle record.

Sunday: Break world 200-meter freestyle record.

Monday: Just for kicks, break world 200-meter freestyle record again.

And Thorpe completed his three-day binge while suffering from a migraine and stomach pains.

No big deal, says the kid who strolls onto the pool deck like a prizefighter, wearing a long overcoat inscribed with his nickname, “Thorpedo.”

“I’ve broken two world records when I’ve been sick,” Thorpe told reporters. “The last time I had a migraine this bad was at the World Short-Course Championships in Hong Kong.

“Maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe I should develop a migraine for Sydney.”

Thorpe, however, failed to qualify for the Australian 100-meter freestyle team, meaning his gold-medal quest at the 2000 Games will max out at five--two short of Mark Spitz’s record for one Olympics.

Which is one reason Thorpe has designs on two more Olympics after this one.

“I intend to retire in 2008--that is, if I continue enjoying my sport and I still have the drive I have today and still want to get up in the mornings to go to training until then.

“After that, I’ll only be 25 years old. But I think I’ll be an old 25 years old.”

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OLYMPIC BASEBALL: EVERYBODY, COME ON DOWN!

Tom Lasorda says he has been overwhelmed by the response to his being named coach for the U.S. Olympic baseball team.

“You wouldn’t believe who called,” Lasorda said. “Everybody wants in.”

Ted Williams called, offering congratulations. Lasorda said he counter-offered with an invitation for Williams to serve as an honorary coach.

“Ted got choked up,” Lasorda said.

Lou Brock also talked with Lasorda, discussing the possibility of joining Lasorda’s coaching staff.

Then there are the players.

With the major league season still underway during the Olympic baseball tournament, the United States had originally planned to stock its Olympic roster with minor leaguers. But that plan has since been amended to include recently retired major leaguers such as Wade Boggs, who is thrilled about the idea.

“That’s probably one of the greatest things you could add to any baseball resume--to play in the Olympics and represent your country,” said Boggs, 41.

Other candidates from the tanned-rested-and- ready-for-Sydney player pool include--and, no, this is not the projected roster for the next Angel old-timers game--Chili Davis, Gary Gaetti, Tom Candiotti, Tim Raines, Tom Pagnozzi, Willie McGee, Jimmy Key, Pat Kelly and Terry Steinbach.

Go Red, White, Blue . . . and gray?

Lasorda says he isn’t surprised by the interest.

“I’m in my 51st year with the Dodgers and I’ve never worn another uniform,” he said. “Now I’m going to put this one on after 51 years and this is bigger than anything I’ve ever done. Our country is bigger than anything.”

He did, however, concede that he will need to resort to different motivational tactics with his players in Sydney. Invoking “the Big Dodger in the Sky” just won’t have the same emotional pull Down Under.

“No, that doesn’t matter,” Lasorda said. “Because this is bigger than that. Bigger than the Dodgers. Bigger than a World Series. Bigger than a playoff game. This is America’s team, yours and mine.”