| Inge de Bruijn entered swimming's Hall of Fame when she recorded 53.80 to smash Chinese swimmer Jingye Le's six-year-old 100m freestyle world record time of 54.01 (1994 world championships) at a three-day meeting in Sheffield, subsequently setting herself up for an enthralling time at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Sydney. World records do not automatically mean olympic gold medals, of course. But de Bruijn's overnight recognition as a multiple medal prospect for Sydney was boosted by a further two world records in the northern English city (50m butterfly - 24.51, 100m butterfly - 56.69) to give an impression of how "hard work and good swimming" - reasons provided by Jacco Verhaeren, her boyfriend and 100m coach when she is competing in Europe - have helped her take both butterfly records to an entirely new dimension."Unbelievable - frankly, we can't believe it," said Verhaeren, who believes that her 100m performance was short of perfect and that, "in good shape, and finely tuned", she could make 53.0. The men's 100m freestyle world record-holder, Alexander Popov, was said to be equally astonished at the time - a full two tenths of a second ahead of Le, who after her performances at the 1996 Atlanta Games was promptly and strongly suspected of doping. Consistent progressDe Bruijn has undoubtedly levelled the playing field. At 76th in the world (100m - 57.47) in 1995, it took her four years before she broke the 55 second mark (54.79) - the second-fastest time in the world that year. In her speciality, the 100m butterfly, de Bruijn has been regularly around the top 20 in the world, but as recently as 1997 she was in lowly 23rd place. Having little to show from previous olympic outings - indeed a "poor attitude" led to her exclusion from Holland's 1996 olympic team - or from the world championships, her main achievements can be found at European level - she is the current 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly champion.No doubt, a move to Oregon in the United States has proved fruitful, where regular running and muscle-building sessions have helped add strength to a physique which is said to be on a par with many male swimmers. With Sydney just around the corner, and with the new-found confidence of setting five world records in the space of a month, de Bruijn should pose a serious threat to defending olympic champion Le (100m) and American 100m butterfly medal hope and previous world record-holder, Jenny Thompson. |
Netherlands