Tom Jager won't become the first man in history to swim in four Olympics, and that's fine with him.
"I'm ready to fade away. It was great to be here. I'd rather fail here in the finals than not to have tried," the 31-year-old Jager said after he finished seventh at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.85 seconds. The time was more than a full second off the world record of 21.81 Jager set in 1990.Gary Hall Jr., the son of three-time Olympian Gary Hall, won the race in 22.27, and David Fox was second in 22.50.
"We've been looking for the next Matt Biondi or Jager. We needed a stud and we've got it in Gary," Jager said of the 21-year-old Hall becoming the new star of American sprinters in the pool.
Hall showed his appreciation for Jager's contributions to the sport immediately after the race, swimming over to him and shaking his hand.
"It's neat to have other athletes shake a seventh-place finisher's hands," said Jager, who collected silver and bronze medals in the 50 at the last two Olympics and won gold on a relay team each time. "I told him, `You did away with us. Now get ready for (Russia's Alex) Popov.' I think he'll take Popov in one of the two sprints at Atlanta."
"All good things come to an end. I feel fortunate that I'm looked at as carrying on his legacy. Sprinting has been American's strong point, and I feel lucky to be part of that," Hall said.
In other finals Monday, 15-year-old Brooke Bennett won the 800 freestyle in 8:31.41 and world record-holder Janet Evans was second at 8:33.60; Michigan junior Tom Dolan won his third event of the meet at 2:00.20 in the 200 IM; and 14-year-old Beth Botsford won the 200-meter backstroke.
Bennett's winning time was more than 15 seconds slower than the world record of 8:16.22 Evans set as an 18-year-old on Aug. 20, 1989, but neither swimmer was concerned about their time.
"My goal in the 800 was to make the team," Evans said. "I need to work on getting my confidence back in the 800. I haven't swum that race like me for a long time. I just have to make it a bit faster."
"Coming to this meet, all I thought about was getting my hand on the wall first or second," Bennett said. "I'll worry about times in Atlanta."
The race also signaled the last effort of 15-year-old Jessica Foschi to qualify for the U.S. team after earlier being suspended followed a positive test for an anabolic steroid. The suspension was later changed to probation by U.S. Swimming, which is being sued by the swimmer's family.
"I felt really great at the beginning of the race. I felt really strong," said Foschi, who was seventh after the first 100 meters and finished fourth at 8:41.61 behind Trina Jackson. "I tried to bring it back, but I guess I was too tired.
"I just wanted to swim fast. . . . I was not satisfied with my time."
The teenager from Old Brookville, N.Y., who has maintained a low profile since the meet began on Wednesday, declined to speak directly with the media. Her comments were distributed by U.S. Swimming.
"It was not that hard to deal with," she said of the week in which she failed to qualify in any of her three events. "I had some good races. I gave it my best effort."
At 15, she has a chance to attempt to make the Olympics again in four years.
"I'm just going to keep training, just the normal activities," Foschi said.
Dolan, the U.S. Swimmer of the Year the past two years, has just missed setting American records in all three of his events. His time in the IM was only nine-hundredths of a second slower than the American record of 2:00.11 set by David Wharton in 1989.
His winning time of 3:48.99 in the 400 freestyle Saturday night was the second-fastest time ever by a U.S. swimmer in the event. And in the 400 IM on Thursday, the 20-year-old narrowly missed breaking his world record in the 400 individual medley. His winning time of 4:12.72 seconds was just 42-hundredths of a second off his world mark set in the 1994 world championships in Rome.
Today on the final day of the trials, he'll complete his grueling week by competing in the 200 back.
"My health is having more of an impact on what I'm doing between my swims. After an event, I'll be a lot more sore than I normally would be ," said Dolan, who suffers from asthma and was struck by chronic fatigue earlier this year when he had to drastically revise his training.
"I'm working real hard on my off days - taking ice baths, getting massages, and just trying to rest. I spend a lot more energy and effort into recovery than I ever had in a big meet."