Publication Date: Friday, July 16, 2004
SWIMMING
Thompson wins 50 free in swim trials
Thompson wins 50 free in swim trials
(July 16, 2004) Stanford coach Richard Quick added to Olympic staff for 2004 Games
by Keith Peters
Former Stanford swimmer Jenny Thompson captured the 50-meter freestyle to win her first event of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials on the final day of the meet at the Charter All Digital Aquatic Center on Wednesday in Long Beach.
Thompson won in a season best of 25.02, finishing .09 seconds ahead of current Georgia swimmer Kara Lynn Joyce (25.11).
"To finish on a positive note is a good feeling, and it really shows my maturity," said Thompson, 31, who will be competing in her fourth Olympics next month in Athens, Greece.
Thompson was slowest off the block but caught the field during a furious dash to the opposite wall. Thompson's winning time was only the eighth-fastest in the world this year. Her other individual event in Athens will be the 100 butterfly while she's expected to be part of the 400 free relay.
"I hope to go a lot faster than I did here," she said. "I do feel like I've got a lot of room to improve between now and Athens. The goal is to get as close as I can to those (world-leading) times."
After Thompson earned her second individual berth Wednesday night, current Stanford women's coach Richard Quick was added to the staff of the USA women's team.
Quick will be coaching in the Olympics for a sixth consecutive time, serving as head coach three times (1988, '96 and 2000) in addition to being as assistant for the women (1992) and the men (1984).
Quick will have four current or former Cardinal swimmers on the women's team in addition to incoming freshman Caroline Bruce in the 200 breast. Along with Thompson, there's recent graduate Tara Kirk in the 100 breast, current junior Dana Kirk in the 200 fly and current junior Kristen Caverly in the 200 back.
Caverly secured a berth on the 2004 U.S. Olympic swim team on Tuesday night by finishing second on the women's 200-meter backstroke with a personal record of 2:12.70.
"It's still sinking in right now, but it's the greatest feeling in the world," Caverly said.
Caverly had missed making the U.S. team in three previous attempts in this meet, finishing third in the 400 IM, fourth in the 200 IM and fourth in the 200 breaststroke. She recorded personal bests in two of those three races.
Caverly also overcame a herniated disk in her back to earn her way on to the team. She said she aggravated the injury by falling off her bike on the Stanford campus in the spring of 2003. Caverly, who some days couldn't even train, took off a quarter and returned to her club team in Irvine.
Her scaled back training schedule pretty much left her an unknown heading into the U.S. trials.
"I guess a lot of people had written me off, but you can't listen to that," the 19-year-old Caverly said. "Nobody was expecting me to make the team, so there was no pressure on me. That was pretty nice."
It was also nice that American recordholder Natalie Coughlin wasn't in the event. Coughlin decided to skip the race in order to concentrate on the 100 back, 100 free and 50 free.
"I told Kristen a year ago that Natalie didn't like the (200 back) event and there would be an opportunity there," said Stanford women's coach Richard Quick. "It was only a question of her training, because there are some days when she can't swim at all."
Caverly, however, made the best of the situation, qualifying third in the semifinals before overhauling Hayley McGregory for the coveted second place behind winner Margaret Hoelzer (2:11.88).
The U.S. trials concluded Wednesday night. During the week-long meet, six world, nine American, 16 U.S. Open and 21 meet records were set in one of the most successful Olympic trials in USA history.
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