It’s a Double Standard

World-record ownership was being threatened on one front, and the actual possession of one took place on foreign soil. It looked as though Aaron Peirsol and Amanda Beard were under siege in the water.

But that was swept away in less than 10 minutes Monday night when the former teammates at the Irvine Novaquatics, the silly kids who used to get in trouble together at practice, turned in back-to-back world-record performances at the U.S. Olympic swim trials in Long Beach.

Repossession was Beard’s mode of operation. She grabbed back her world record from Leisel Jones of Australia in the 200-meter breaststroke, winning in 2 minutes 22.44 seconds. Caroline Bruce of the Wichita Swim Club was second in 2:27.22.

“I always said I was going to retire when I broke it, but that’s not going to happen,” said the 22-year-old Beard, who will be competing in her third Olympics and has qualified in three individual events.

Peirsol, 20, may have been even more impressive in his role as Phelps-buster. In short order, he broke his own world record in the 200 backstroke, going 1:54.74, won his second individual event and finally pierced the invincibility of Michael Phelps. Phelps finished second in 1:55.86.

All three accomplishments combined to send Peirsol elevating out of the water. He hopped up on the lane line, not far from Phelps, letting his emotions spill in front of the crowd 9,817. His Southern California cool vanished in a surge of celebration.

“I’m usually pretty reserved,” Peirsol said, smiling.

This was clearly different. He watched his mother cry. Peirsol said he came close to crying when he spotted her emotional reaction. And he took an enormously popular victory lap after the awards ceremony, slapping hands with spectators in the stands. Then he cracked one-liners in his news conference, entertaining reporters.

Peirsol, who had been at the University of Texas the last two years before turning pro, complimented one Australian reporter: “Nice accent.” He joked about his ultra-cool “facade.” And when asked just what is in the water in Austin, resulting in all these world records, Peirsol said, smiling: “Pacifico ... with lime.”

He handed Phelps his first individual loss at the trials. Phelps had gone three for three here.

Phelps said that Peirsol’s celebration motivated him to push through to another individual victory later during a grueling program. His fourth individual victory came in the 200 individual medley (1:56.71) and he capped off the marathon day with the semifinals of the 100 butterfly. In all, he has qualified in an American record-tying five individual events.

But Phelps doesn’t usually have to watch someone else take over the pool, the way Peirsol did. He was asked if a picture of Peirsol was going up on his bedroom wall, along with the poster of Ian Crocker, who beat him in the 100 butterfly last summer in Barcelona.

“We’ll have to wait till we get home,” he said, laughing.

But Phelps isn’t the only one motivated by his rivals. Peirsol received a phone call during the winter from triple gold medalist Lenny Krayzelburg, who told him that Phelps had come close to Peirsol’s world record at nationals. That bit of information pushed a button of sorts in the laid-back Orange County kid.

He did not want to lose his record to Phelps.

“It kind of grows on you,” said Peirsol, who had set the record of 1:55.15 in 2002 in Minneapolis. “Once someone comes so close to doing it, you realize how much it really means to you.”

If someone was going to stop Phelps, it was no surprise it was Peirsol. He took on all questions about Phelps throughout the trials, never appearing ruffled that anyone might think he was in the way of Phelps’ quest to match or surpass Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at one Olympics.

Then again, Peirsol has never lost to Phelps in the 200 backstroke.

“It is a little strange,” Peirsol said. “I understand if he won seven gold medals and brought those back ... it would be great for the sport, great for the Olympics.... To feel like you might be one of those guys to take that away from something like that, from the sport itself, you just don’t think about stuff like that. It’s not our fault we’re in those races.”

Unlike Peirsol, Beard did not have to go against her rival, head to head, to break a world record. Jones broke Beard’s record a few days ago in Brisbane, Australia, going 2:22.96. At the trials, Beard was pleased she didn’t fall into a trap of going out too fast with the likes of Tara Kirk and Staciana Stitts. She swam a tactical race.

“I know that’s the way they race,” Beard said. “My focus was not to get caught up in that because I’d be way too tired. So I tried to put the blinders on and come home as fast as possible.”