Peirsol’s making waves in Athens

What more can we say about a guy, who doesn’t like to be hyped up,

who once had a day and a parade in Newport Beach in his honor? The

story continues, and we can say more.

Aaron Peirsol, a standout backstroker who honed his swimming

skills at Newport Harbor High School and has gone on to become a top

swimmer in his sport, will bring home gold.

In the Olympic Games in Athens, Peirsol has won the gold medal in

the 200- and 100-meter backstrokes, only the fifth swimmer in Olympic

history to win gold in those two events in the same Games. On

Saturday, he topped it all off as he set a world record in his

100-meter backstroke leg of the 400-meter medley relay, which the

United States won in record time.

He won gold in each event he participated in.

Perhaps it’s selfish of us to take such joy in Peirsol’s

achievements. But for years, on the pages of this paper, we have

followed Peirsol’s accomplishments, so we take our own pleasure in

watching him win worldwide recognition -- both in Athens this year

and in Sydney in 2000.

We all should, though we also should not be all that surprised by

those accomplishments. After all, it was right here in Newport Beach,

where his high school had “Aaron Peirsol Day,” complete with the

parade.

Last year, Peirsol topped our own list of Newport-Mesa sports

giants. Within a six-month span, which included his graduation from

Newport Harbor High, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist broke four

swimming world records and added to his collection of national

titles. He also led the Sailors to the program’s first CIF Southern

Section Division I team crown. At 15, he was the youngest American to

break two minutes in the 200-meter backstroke. That’s worth a parade.

As legendary former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden has said,

the journey and preparation for winning are more important than the

win. So again, like we do with several athletes who make good from

this area, we come back to this champion’s beginnings. Much of those

beginnings and Peirsol’s journey were local -- in local pools more

than a decade ago. Though he continued on to college at the

University of Texas, Peirsol’s local ties can’t be forgotten. The

laid-back Peirsol, 21, had us on the edge of our seats.

When Peirsol was getting ready to conduct an interview Thursday

after beating Markus Rogan of Austria by more than two seconds in the

200-meter backstroke, he was informed he had been disqualified.

Olympics officials said he illegally propelled himself in his last

turn. But 20 minutes later, after a U.S. team protest, the

international governing body for swimming overturned the

disqualification and gave the gold back to Peirsol.

Whew! The hits just keep on coming, like a parade -- a journey.