Word: sporting
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...sport in which most athletes would be happy to qualify for one event, that he can try for eight medals is amazing. Trained in the individual medley, an event that requires mastery of all four swimming strokes, Phelps possesses a phenomenal ability to compete with the best specialists in three of those strokes--butterfly, backstroke and freestyle. In the fourth, the breaststroke, he's merely outstanding. In fact, at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials last month, Phelps became the first swimmer to qualify for six individual events. (He will drop the 200 backstroke in Athens.) "He is really redefining...
...teen did balk, though, when Bowman tried to fix his starts and turns, the one area in which Phelps falters. In a sport measured in hundredths of a second, getting a smooth start can mean a world record; not wasting time at the wall can separate medal winners from also-rans. Phelps hasn't perfected his turns, says Bowman, because he is simply too good a swimmer. "He'd think, I'll just swim a little harder, and then say, 'That was a best time. How can you complain about that...
...sport in desperate need of a makeover, the rise of the young bloods is nothing but good news. Hear that sigh of relief? It's coming from U.S.A. Track and Field headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind., because the four sprinters charged with using steroids supplied by the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO), including Jones' boyfriend, 100-m world-record holder Tim Montgomery, didn't qualify for the Olympic team. Yes, doping continues to dog the sport of track and field; on three straight days during the trials, new cheating accusations arose. And untarnished veterans, like hurdler and former Olympic sprinting champion...
...Athens will allow the federation to showcase many fresh and, to this point, clean faces. And not a moment too soon. U.S. fans have been running away; network ratings for this year's Olympic trials, one of the rare times the sport gets prime time, dropped 26% from 2000. Meanwhile, fans pack stadiums across Europe for its Golden League circuit. "We've got to do something," says ex--U.S. long-jump standout Michael Powell, now a coach. "Every year track drops off more and more...
With an average age of 26.9, this team is the youngest since 1992; this summer could see the sport's future make its debut. "Our youth is a good way to get the focus away from the not so nice things that are happening in track and field," says 100-m sprinter Lauryn Williams, 20, who just finished her junior year at the University of Miami. "And we're not just happy to be on the team. We all have a shot at medals...