Exclusive: Poolside with Janet Evans

By Tito Morales

LONG BEACH, Calif., June 15. SHE still looks so trim and fit that one can easily envision her climbing back onto the blocks and knocking out an eye-popping half mile or mile. But these days, Janet Evans, 32, is more than content to sit in the stands and merely watch the action — just as she did over the weekend during the 11th edition of her namesake Invitational.

"I retired at a good time," Evans says, as she gazes down upon the likes of such current distance stars as Kalyn Keller, Adrienne Binder, and Lauren Costella who compete in the final heat of one of her signature events, the 1500 meters. "Mentally, I was good with it."

These days Evans’ life is mostly spent outside the water.

A long-time corporate spokesperson and frequent motivational speaker, her competitive fire has quelled somewhat, and the bulk of her energy is now spent promoting the sport that enabled her to become one of history’s most popular and successful Olympians.

At first the idea of having a meet named after her was somewhat daunting to the four-time gold medalist.

"When (Coach) Mark Schubert first asked me about this, I thought it was kind of strange,” she confesses.

Evans, whose career was still very much alive at the time, explains that she didn’t need the extra attention, and she certainly didn’t want the uncommon honor to convey any sense of egotism or narcissism on her part.

And to be sure, there have never been all that many competitions named after either active or retired swimmers. There is no Mark Spitz Open, no Tracy Caulkins Challenge, nor a Matt Biondi Pro-Am.

With each passing year, however, and especially as Evans moves deeper into her retirement, she has grown more and more at ease with the concept.

"I get it now," she says. "I finally understand that this is a nice legacy to have. If this in some way helps to inspire people to swim faster, that’s great. I enjoy it now, which is something I might not have been able to say ten years ago."

A Sense of Calm
Evans has reached a point in her life where she is at peace with herself, and content with what she managed to accomplish in the sport. While she still finds the time to swim two to three times per week, it is without the assistance of a pace clock and her days of racking up heavy yardage are comfortably behind her.

Last Friday night, she swam the anchor leg in a festive 200 meters medley relay which featured the past (John Naber), present (Michael Klim), and future (Jessica Hardy). The low key affair, however, was about as close to organized competition as Evans has cared to get since her 1996 retirement.

"My whole passion about swimming now is getting kids involved with the sport and helping them to reach their dreams," she explains, "whether it’s competing at the Janet Evans Invitational, or the Olympics, or the Trials, or at an ‘AA’ meet."

Still, though, while being surrounded by family, friends and former teammates against the backdrop of top flight racing, it’s only natural that Evans’ mind might periodically drift toward the past.

"I was able to leave the sport with a really good outlook," she says. "I’m satisfied with my career and what I did."

Such acceptance, though, did not come easily.

"I was very disappointed with my performances in Barcelona, and I thought that winning a silver medal had made me a failure. But in ’96, and during those four years before, I really learned a lot"

It was Schubert who encouraged her to continue with her swimming, despite her self-perceived shortcomings in Spain, and it was he who taught her that competitive swimming is about much more than just accumulating gold medals.

"I give Mark a lot of credit," she says. "He was the one who made me realize that it’s okay to not win all the time. He was there for me, and he made it fun. He inspired me to keep swimming, which then allowed me to pass the Olympic torch to Muhammed Ali (during the opening ceremonies in Atlanta) — and that was my greatest moment."

A Legacy That Only Grows Stronger
Evans’ marks have withstood the test of time.

In a sport in which records sometimes seem to change with the regularity of the seasons, some of her marks have become veritable institutions. Her 800 meters freestyle world record, 8:16.22, was established in 1989. And her extraordinary world records in the 400 meters, 4:03.85, and 1500 meters, 15:52.10, were set the year before.

Some of the youngest swimmers Evans watched compete in Long Beach over the weekend, in fact, had not even been born yet when she was in the process of elevating the distance freestyle bar to unprecedented heights.

Evans herself believes, though, that her marks are by no means unassailable.

"I think it’s just going to take one swimmer," she predicts. "And then as soon as someone breaks them, everyone else will break them, too. They’re not as untouchable as they’ve been made out to be."

The one swim she’s most proud of is her 400 meters freestyle in the Seoul Olympics where a determined Heike Friedrich of East Germany pushed her for an astonishing 16 laps in a race for the ages.

"That one still blows me away," she says quietly, with an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

For comparison’s sake, Brooke Bennett’s winning time in Sydney was 4:05.80. And the best any woman could muster at the 2003 World Championships — a highly charged affair that produced no fewer than 15 new world records — was Hannah Stockbauer’s 4:06.75.

When pressed as to whether today’s new performance suits might have possibly gotten her even closer to the four minute barrier, Evans breaks into a wistful smile and jokes that, as a matter of fact, the new model she donned for her recent relay leg did indeed make her feel pretty good in the water.

Leaving It All In The Pool
But Evans looks back upon her distinguished career with little or no regrets.

She knows she gave it everything she had, for a great many years, and one of the enduring lessons she left for subsequent generations is that there’s still no real substitute for good old fashioned hard work. Evans’ work ethic was legendary, and she’s convinced it was the biggest factor for her success.

"I remember training with Jeff Kostoff before the ’88 Games and keeping up with him," she says. "I loved training with guys. I always thrived on the competition."

As is the case with all former athletes, no matter what their level of accomplishment, memories of individual workouts tend to fade over time. Some, though, for one reason or another, linger on in the psyche.

One particular monstrous workout that still sticks with Evans even today was a long course set of 20 x 400 I.M.’s with diminishing amounts of rest. She recalls clicking off one 5:15 after another — until the last five. Then, on an interval of just 5:20, she somehow had the wherewithal to improve her efforts to the 5:10 range.

"I trained like a madwoman," she says simply.

Living a Life in Fours
Curiously, Evan’s life still seems to be demarked in four year increments. On April 10th of this year, for instance, she married Bill Willson inside the memorable setting of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

Barely a month later, Evans was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. And now, the newlyweds are in the process of constructing a house in Orange County.

"I really like these quadrennial years," she laughs. "Big things happen during these quadrennial years."

Maybe it’s just the nature of being an Olympian.

"I don’t get butterflies right now," Evans says, referring to the upcoming U.S. Trials and Games, "but I do get busy."

Evans will be traveling to Athens as, among other things, a representative of Speedo and also as a special correspondent for Yahoo Sports. She’s looking forward to the experience, and is excited for all the swimmers who will be earning the opportunity of taking part.

"I feel so positive about the sport," she says with a contented smile, as she turns her attention back to the action in the pool.

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