Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Swimming News Online
THOMPSON SENDS WARNING TO DE BRUIJN
DE BRUIJN SHAKES OFF TALK OF DRUGS

Thompson sends warning to De Bruijn

Stanford clubmates Thompson, left, and Torres © AP

Jenny Thompson sent a warning to Inge de Bruijn, the Dutch favourite for the Olympic 100m freestyle title, when she set an American record of 54.07sec at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis late on Monday night. Turning a touch behind Stanford teammate Dara Torres, who at 33 will be the oldest US swimmer in Sydney, Thompson turned on the heat on the way home to stop the clock in the third-fastest time ever.

Only De Bruijn's 53.80sec world record, established this year, and the 54.01sec of China's Le Jingyi, now retired, are faster.

Thompson, whose previous best was 54.27sec, timed her race to perfection, both in terms of beating Torres, and in terms of putting pressure on De Bruijn, who set world butterfly and freestyle records this year in races in which the clock was the only challenger.

Torres was second in 54.62, while Ashley Tappin was third in 55.23, just ahead of Amy Van Dyken, at 55.30. Van Dyken, Olympic champion over 50m freestyle in 1996, suffered cramp in the last 20 meters and had to be helped from the pool and have her leg placed in ice.

Thompson's was the second US record of the session, Kristy Kowal having clocked 2mins 24. 75sec to win the 200m breaststroke inside the previous US best of 2:25.35, established by Anita Nall in 1992. Behind Kowal, a world short-course champion, was Amanda Beard, the silver medal winner from the 1996 Games, in 2mins 26.79.

Lenny Krayzelburg won the 100 and 200m backstroke at the trials
© Allsport

Lenny Krayzelburg, world record holder over 100 and 200m backstroke, added the 200m backstroke to his Olympic programme, having already won the 100 metres at the trials. His winning time, 1:57.31, was well down on his world record pace and just 0.67sec ahead of 17-year-old Aaron Peirsol. Tom Dolan, Olympic 400m medley champion and winner of that event earlier in the trials, also added a second race for Sydney, touching just ahead of Tom Wilkens in the 200m medley, the rivals qualifying for the Games in 2:00.81 and 2:01.38.

CRAIG LORD
Swimming Correspondent
The Times

De Bruijn shakes off talk of drugs

Inge de Bruijn arrived in Sydney today © AP

Inge De Bruijn, the Dutch swimmer who has set world records over 50 and 100m on both freestyle and butterfly this year, arrived in Sydney today to questions over suggestions that her performances had been enhanced by the use of drugs. De Bruijn, who trains in the United States, has set eight world records since May. Her time over 100m butterfly makes her almost a second quicker than the next best in the world, Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson, of the US - a progression that has raised eyebrows.

After 10 years as an international swimmer who was ranked well outside the top 20 in the world over 100m freestyle until 1998, De Bruijn has this season made the jump from world-class swimmer in a short-course pool (25m) to gold-medal contender in three events in a long-course pool (50m) at the Olympic Games.

Susie O'Neill, who will defend the 200m butterfly title in Sydney for Australia, and her coach Scott Volkers, were among those who suggested that De Bruijn's times stretched credulity. O'Neill later withdrew her remarks and apologised to De Bruijn in an e-mail, the Dutch swimmer said.

Arriving in Sydney, De Bruijn brushed aside questions on the drugs theme, saying: "It’s pretty much sad - but right now if you perform well in any sport they cut your head off.

In swimming, if you’re from a little country they think you can’t swim, but that’s not true. It’s not just the USA and Australia. Everybody can train hard. It doesn’t matter what country you come from."

The culture of suspicion to which de Bruijn referred stems from the war against drugs in swimming that during the 1990s exposed more than 30 positive tests for anabolic steroids, most of those among Chinese, and saw Ireland's Michelle Smith de Bruin, a triple gold medal winner at the 1996 Games, expelled for four years for attempting to manipulate a drugs test sample. The sample was found to contain whiskey and a metabolite of a banned steroid.

De Bruijn keenly points out that her name is spelt differently to that of Smith De Bruin. She notes that she is not related to the former Irish swimmer, who is married to the former Dutch discus thrower Eric de Bruin, who retired while serving a drugs suspension of his own.

Meanwhile, beyond talk of drugs, Inge De Bruijn said that Sydney was about winning medals, not breaking records. "It’s not about world records," she said.

"I really dream about getting an Olympic medal. The pressure may be a little bigger but we’ll just see what happens when I’m on the block. I’m very excited."

CRAIG LORD
Swimming Correspondent
The Times