Janet Evans

Is yet another Woman Michael Loves.

Just checking out my times, smashing World Records, ...

I fell in love with Ms Evans during the 1988 Olympics, naturally, as much of the rest of the nation did.  Living in Texas at the time, and never having even been to California yet, through the teevee screen Ms Evans seemed to me the perfect expression of the successful, athletic, nonchalant, shy, slightly awkward, (she was only fifteen when she started blasting World Records and piling up medals and trophies) attractive California Girl.  She was adorable then and she is still lovely today.


I also particularly liked Ms Evans because she was small in stature like myself.  Most great swimmers have very lithe, lean, long bodies.  Ms Evans started kicking ass in the pool as a teen at about five foot four.  She eventually added a couple of inches as she grew older.  And Ms Evans was an absolute monster in the pool.  Her specialty is long distance freestyle. The World Record she set in 1988, winning a Gold Medal, in the 400m freestyle was not broken until 2006.  Her World Record for the 1500m freestyle, also established in 1988, lasted until 2007.  Not to mention that Evans was the first woman to break the sixteen minute barrier in the 1500 meters, plus her winning time would have been good enough to win a Men's Gold Medal back in 1968! And her World Record in the 800m freestyle, set in 1989, was not broken until 2008. That is unheard of in Olympic sports, hanging on to records for that period of time.  She was just an absolute freak of training, determination, effort, talent and hard work.  That it took nearly twenty years for others to break the records she set in the late Eighties is, frankly, hard to fathom.

Janet Evans, age forty, is attempting a comeback as we speak.  She has already qualified for the US Team Trials in hopes of participating in the 2012 London Summer Olympics.  I wish her all the best.







-- Ardent