Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 3, 1992 TAG: 9203030129
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
When she's usually at lunch at Towson (Md.) Catholic High School, the 15-year-old sophomore carved more than three-quarters of a second off the women's 200-meter breast stroke mark in the preliminaries of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Indianapolis.
Her time of 2 minutes, 25.92 seconds in the preliminaries shattered Silke Hoerner's mark of 2:26.71 set while swimming for East Germany at the 1988 Olympics.
Then Nall won the finals in 2:25.35 to capture a berth on the Olympic team. The other spot in the event went to runner-up Jill Johnson, who was timed in 2:28.52.
America's two big swimming stars at the 1988 Olympics - Janet Evans and Matt Biondi - failed to qualify Monday but have chances in other events.
\ In other swimming:
Mark Spitz, who failed to qualify for the Olympic swimming trials, has had to admit defeat to an invincible opponent: age.
Spitz, 42, said an international group of physiologists who examined him recently said that, after 35, the average man loses one percent of his muscle strength annually.
During training, "I was gaining one percent, which means I'll never get faster," said the 6-foot athlete, who won an unprecedented seven gold medals and set seven world records 20 years ago in the Munich Olympics. "That just keeps me even."
The Modesto, Calif., native and 1971 Sullivan Award winner said he has no regrets about launching the comeback.
by CNB