Swimmers took the plunge into the "Black Lagoon." The U.S. basketball team took the plunge, period.
Swimming at the Goodwill Games on Sunday was as notable for the color of the water - a murky, swamp-like green - as for the multiple medals won by Alexander Popov, Angel Martino and the Chinese women.The color of the basketball court was also green, but the result was a bad night for the red, white and blue - as Shawn Respert and the Americans lost 77-75 to their old nemesis, the Russians.
In track and field, however, Lance Deal upstaged the vaunted Russians to win the first U.S. gold medal in the hammer throw at a major championship in 38 years.
Dream Team II may be getting ready to reaffirm America's basketball superiority at the world championships in Toronto next month, but this team of lesser-known U.S. college players failed to live up to expectations on Sunday.
The team, coached by Southern Cal's George Raveling, was behind for most of the game and ended its chances of a comeback by poor free-throw shooting - 14-of-27.
"The game came down to which team was successful at the foul line," Raveling said. "The Russians made theirs at critical times. We missed ours."
It was USA Basketball's second straight loss to the Russians in Goodwill Games competition, following a 92-85 defeat the 1990 Games in Seattle.
The loss followed the Americans' 83-71 victory over Argentina in their opening game Saturday night. They can still advance to the medal round by beating China on Monday and if Russia beats Argentina. China is 0-2 after losing to Argentina 71-49 Sunday night.
"The players are now more determined than ever to get in the gold medal round," Raveling said.
The Americans closed within two points at 71-69 on a shot by Michigan State's Respert with 1:48 left but the Russians pulled away again. Respert hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final two-point margin.
Sergei Bazarevich led the Russians with 23 points. Respert topped the Americans with 17 points, reserve Michael Finley of Wisconsin scored 14, while Damon Stoudamire of Arizona had 11.In other games, Puerto Rico beat Brazil 109-98 and Italy edged Croatia 79-77.
At the SKA pool, 20 races were packed into one day to make up for the one-day postponement caused by a faulty filtration system that left the water black a few days ago, gradually improving to green.
The Swedish team pulled out, refusing to swim in water that looked more akin to a country lake than a competition pool. The irony was that a Swedish company had been responsible for the renovation of the pool in the first place.
"They told us the water would be as good as a pool in the United States," said Swedish swimmer Daniel Lonnberg. "This is the worst I've ever seen, this is not good for health."
Members of the United States swim team took an informal poll - and not one member thought the competition would be held.
"You could only see about two feet in front of you," said American Nicole Haislett, who finished third in the 100 freestyle.
"I was able to write my name on the bottom of the pool," said Melvin Stewart, who won the 200 butterfly, beating chief rival Russian Denis Pankratov in a slow 1:58.46. "Listen, I know the country's in dire straits, but all we wanted is water."
Stewart said swimmers nicknamed the pool the "Black Lagoon."
"I slowed at every turn, it was difficult to see the wall," he said. "The pool out here has been black, brown, green, brown - it's been an adventure. It looked like they filled the pool with Gatorade today, but it didn't taste like it."
The "Creature of the Black Lagoon" was Popov, the 22-year-old Russian Olympic champion who won gold medals in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle events.
He won the 50-meter showdown with world record-holder Tom Jager of the United States, but his winning time of 22.55 seconds was well off the American's record of 21.81. Popov's time of 50.58 in the 100 was also way off his world-record time of 48.21 set last month.
"I'm not like a world record-breaking machine," he said.
Martino won both of the women's freestyle sprints and China's Ren Xing swept the 100 and 200 breaststroke. The Chinese won five of 10 women's events, another sign of China's emerging power in the pool - even though coach Wen Xinlong called it his "third team."
In track and field, Deal became the first American since Harold Connolly at the 1956 Olympics to win a hammer throw title at a major championship. The 32-year-old Deal, of Eugene, Oregon, hurled the hammer 263 feet, 1 inch to beat nearly all of Russia's top competitors.
"For years, they have been throwing miles and we haven't been able to do it," Deal said of the Russians. "This is their backyard. This is where they live."
Britain's Sally Gunnell, the world and Olympic champion the 400-meter hurdles, beat Kim Batten of the United States to avenge her only loss of the season - to Batten last Monday in Nice.
In another prime women's rivalry, Gwen Torrence outran Russian sprinter Irina Privalova to win the 100 in 10.95. The men's 100 will be raced Monday night, with a marquee field featuring American stars Carl Lewis, Leroy Burrell, Andre Cason and Dennis Mitchell.