There he goes again, popping off and raising eyebrows. Then he makes people listen by advancing to the next rounds in the U.S. Olympic trials in swimming, his other competition of choice.
A few minutes Friday after finishing second to Cullen Jones in the 50-meter freestyle, Hall beat Jones in their next scheduled event.
“Well,” Hall said, “I beat him to the microphone, at least.”
Sure, Hall can swim. He’s pretty good at it. He is 33 and has appeared in three Olympics, picking up five gold medals. But lately, Hall has become known as more of a character than a swimmer.
His age doesn’t help. Neither does his entrance. Yes, this swimmer has an entrance. He struts into the arena wearing a long robe, like something he borrowed out of Ric Flair’s closet, then blows kisses to the crowd when the announcer introduces him. After he swims, he pulls himself out of the pool, flexes for the crowd or blows more kisses and struts on back to the warm-down area.
The crowd loves it. They cheer him and wait for him to get near a microphone. It was earlier this week that Hall accused six-time gold medalist Amy Van Dyken of doping. Compared her to Marion Jones, who lied about using drugs to bolster her Olympic resume and is serving a prison sentence because of it. Yep, Hall was near a microphone when he brought up Van Dyken and this came out:
“She’s inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, and Marion Jones goes to jail,” Hall said Sunday. “The only difference was that Marion Jones admitted it.”
Hall has caught grief over his bravado in a sport that cherishes humility. Every other second, it seemed, swimmers this week were sidestepping praise and talking about how the other competitors at the Qwest Center were the toughest they had ever seen. It was as if the only reason anyone ever won was because of bad luck or a good nap — anything but talent.
Then there’s Hall. He said the reason all the world records were being broken — eight had fallen in Omaha as of Friday night — wasn’t because of the swimsuit designed by NASA. He blamed it on steroids.
“Can the suit technology distract from another issue?” he said this week. “I think it’s pretty convenient for those that are indulging the other issue.”
Hall’s other issue is swimming. People are so busy paying attention to what he’s saying that they sometimes forget what he’s doing. Hall is one killer race from going to Beijing, an even more impressive thing than making it four years ago. At the time, he was the oldest male swimmer in 80 years to make the U.S. team.
Don’t be fooled: Hall can do it. He was less than three-tenths of a second Friday behind Ben Wildman-Tobriner’s top time.
“So many coaches say: Go out there and swim your own race,” he said. “But this meet is all about racing everybody else in the pool. So, that’s what I’ll be doing.”
That’s what he did Friday night, coming out of the dark blue robe and blowing kisses before finishing second to Jones, who set the national record in the 50-meter freestyle during Friday morning’s preliminaries.
Jones is nine years younger than Hall, and Jones said Friday that Hall showed him how to improve his starts.
“Gary has been such a mentor to me; he’s been great,” said Jones, a favorite to win tonight’s 50-meter freestyle. “He noticed how terrible my start was, and he pulled me aside and tried to work on it. I’m just really proud to be able to swim next to him and compete with him.”
So, tonight, Hall will compete in his other event. He’ll swim and try to make it four Olympic appearances. And if he does, you can bet he’ll be quick to that microphone.
“I’ve got my shot,” he said. “Tonight felt really smooth, really easy. I’ve got tomorrow night to give it all I have.”
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