ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
JEFF ROUSE WON GOLD at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but he comes to Roanoke unsure if he wants to continue competing.
Local swimming enthusiasts will get a chance to see Jeff Rouse do something Saturday that he hasn't done since winning two gold medals at the Summer Olympics - get into a pool.
``I haven't swam since Atlanta,'' said Rouse, who will speak and conduct a clinic starting at 9 a.m. at the Gator Aquatic Center. ``I'm trying to decide whether or not to continue to swim competititvely.''
At one time, there would not have been a question. Nobody was swimming at 26, Rouse's age when he won the 100-meter backstroke and swam the backstroke leg on the United States team that won the 400 medley relay.
``It's not so much incentive; it's reality,'' said Rouse, a Stafford County resident. ``I think people would have liked to go on. It was impossible to swim after college in the mid-1980s. People retired because swimming professionally was not an option.''
Even now, only swimmers ranked in the top 10 in the world in their specialties can hope to make the kind of living that would sustain them between Olympics.
``He's at a real crossroads,'' said Roanoke-based coach Doug Fonder, who introduced Rouse to year-round swimming nearly 20 years ago in Quantico. ``It's the reason he's not in training right now. From one standpoint, maybe it's better to get on with your life.
``But, when you're the best in the world at something, why walk away from it?''
Rouse, who has given himself 18 months to reach a decision, has eight of the top 10 times ever recorded in the 100 backstroke. He also helped pioneer the underwater dolphin kick that has transformed the event in the 1990s.
He will be joined at the clinic by specialists in nutrition and sports psychology before the program breaks up around 4 p.m. Reservations may be made by calling the Gator Center at 774-0062.
Part of Rouse's message will be to the parents. He notes that he played football, basketball and baseball until his freshman year in high school.
``I hear a lot of kids say they want to be in the Olympics,'' he said. ``A lot of times, adults try to stifle those dreams because they think it's impossible. I'm here to say that it's not. Then, there are the parents who push, push, push. And that's not healthy, either.
``You should give kids the freedom of choice.''
It works for 26-year-olds, too.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GARY NEWKIRK. Jeff Rouse, a Stafford County resident,by CNBwon gold in the 100-meter backstroke and the 400 medley relay at the
Olympics in Atlanta.