Olympics: PEIRSOL TAKES SILVER!

Tony Altobelli

It took an Olympic record from world champion Lenny Krayzelburg to

keep Newport Harbor standout Aaron Peirsol from shocking the swimming

world Thursday night in Sydney, Australia.

In the men’s 200-meter backstroke, Peirsol won the silver medal with a

time of 1 minute 57:35 seconds, just .59 seconds off the 1:56.76 pace set by the gold-medalist Krayzelburg.

“We’re still in a daze,” Aaron’s dad, Tim, said by telephone from

Sydney. “Every day out here is better than the next. After last night, I

think we’re starting to fall back to Earth.”

It was the second-fastest time in the 17-year-old Peirsol’s career, a

span that will surely be paved with gold down the road in future

Olympics.

“They have this cheer in Australia where 18,000 people in the swim

complex start yelling, ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, OY, OY, OY!’ ” Tim said.

“So before Aaron’s final, I started yelling, ‘Aaron Aaron Aaron! Gold

Gold Gold!,’ The people around us must have thought I was some crazy,

psycho dad or something.”

Peirsol got off to a slow start in the finals as he found himself

trailing not only Krayzelburg, but Australian Matt Welsh after 100

meters.

Finally, the famous Peirsol surge took over and he pulled ahead of

Welsh and started to creep in on Krayzelburg.

With 50 meters to go, Krayzelburg felt his arms start to stiffen and

cramp up, but kept his focus and marched on.

Both Peirsol and Welsh swam a faster final 50 meters, but

Krayzelburg’s lead was just too much to overcome.

“It actually was a less emotional situation than at the Olympic

Trials,” Tim said. “We all were just glad to be there and throughout the

events, we learned that it was OK to get a bronze and it’s OK to get a

silver.”

Peirsol’s parents, Tim and Wella, along with sister, Hayley finally

got to see Aaron following the race for the first time in over two weeks.

“We called him the morning before the race and told him how proud we

all were and that we loved him very much,” Tim said.

Unfortunately, Aaron isn’t first in all events.

“We had to wait for him to take his drug test before we could see him.

He took so long to finally fill up his cup, he was the last one out and

the visiting time had expired. We had to get a special injunction from

the Olympic Committee just to see him. We got to see his medal and hold

it. He’s very happy with how things turned out.”

In a country that is dominated by swimming, the Peirsols could not

have had a better atmosphere for Olympic competition.

“These people are ravenous when it comes to swimming,” Tim said. “In

the U.S., kids talk about Michael Jordan and how many points he scored,

but over here, the kids talk about their swimmers and their times they

swam in various events. It’s unbelievable the type of support that goes

on over here.”

So what’s next for Aaron and the Peirsol family?

“He’s going into his junior year of high school, which is such an

academically pivotal year in school,” Tim said. “It’s going to be up to

us to make sure Aaron tries to get back into a semi-normal life as soon

as possible. It’s really a life-changing experience, but he’s a great kid

and I’m sure he’ll be fine with it.”

Peirsol became more than just Newport Harbor’s top swimmer in the

Senior Nationals on March 29, when he swam a 1:57.03, showing the country

that he deserved to be on the short list of world-class caliber swimmers.

After helping the Sailors to a third-place finish in the CIF Division

I finals in the spring, the three-time CIF champion took on Krayzelburg

in various locations and it was apparent that this event was a two-man

show.

At the Speedo Challenge in Irvine on June 2, Peirsol hung tough with

the 24-year-old Ukraine-born swimmer from USC and finished second by one

second.

Perhaps two events too early, Peirsol shocked the swimming world when

he defeated Krayzelburg at the Janet Evans Invitational in Krayzelburg’s

own pool at USC.

Peirsol said after the race that it wasn’t a big deal, but the stats

don’t lie.

It was the first loss for Krayzelburg in this event in four years. The

kid had finally caught him.

Peirsol’s biggest challenge came at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials,

where each race multiplied in intensity and pressure.

After a fourth-place finish in the 100 back finals, Peirsol set his

sights on a top-two finish in the 200-meter backstroke and a trip to

Sydney.

Following a strong 1:58.90 in the preliminaries, Peirsol swam a

1:57.93 in the semifinals, the best time by anyone in the semifinals,

including Krayzelburg.

But the world-record holder came through in the finals, edging out

Peirsol with a 1:57.31. Peirsol qualified for the Olympic team by placing

second with a 1:57.98.

“It’s been great hearing from other people all the things you want to

hear about your kid,” Tim said. “We’re very proud of the way Aaron’s

handled all of this.”