U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff speaks
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BEIJING -- Katie Hoff was smiling again, about 15 hours or so after she looked spent after a missing a spot in the final of the 800-meter freestyle. She said she pretty much shut down after about 500 meters.
One question on Friday morning in the mixed zone, in particular, by colleague/L.A. Times columnist/video star Bill Plaschke, brought forth the most telling response from her the morning after she and her coach Paul Yetter chose not to speak to the media.
Plaschke asked about America’s obsession with gold medals and how anything other than that is perceived as a bust. Was it fair?
‘I don’t think it’s really fair,’ she said. ‘I think Michael (Phelps) is doing what he’s doing and it’s incredible, but it kind of makes the rest of us look like, if you don’t win a gold medal, it’s not ... ‘
Hoff laughed.
Would have been interesting to hear the end of that sentence.
‘You know. I even got a best time in the 200 free and I didn’t medal,’ said Hoff. ‘It’s tough, but obviously Michael gets our sport out there and that’s great. I just have to always put in perspective as far as me personally and think, ‘OK, silver medal, two bronze. I’m moving up in the world.’ It’s better than last time and I’m not close to being done.’
Her schedule took its toll. Other than Phelps, no one else has been busier at the Water Cube. She didn’t second-guess Yetter’s overly ambitious plan and took responsibility.
‘It was my decision to do that. It just kind of fell into place by itself. I decided, ‘OK, these are the events I’ll swim at trials,’’ she said. ‘I ended up doing really well at trials and winning them all. I felt like, why would I just drop this event? I think it was just a learning experience.’
The Natalie Coughlin path might be the best route to follow in the future, quality over quantity.
‘I think she kind of learned that around the same time I did,’ Hoff said. ‘I think she started dropping events when she was 18, 19. We were talking the other day, she had the American record in the 200 back for a long time before it was broken. People were always criticizing why didn’t she swim it. It’s just because she flat-out hated the event. There are events that I can’t stand also, but I do them anyway.
‘For the longevity in the sport, you have to make sure that you’re picking events that you’re really excited to do. ... I feel like because I have a lot of events, that gives me a lot of options. I don’t have to be stuck with one event. I can choose from certain events and not race all of them.’
She didn’t force us to read between the lines about the event she dislikes the most. You can figure neither Phelps nor Hoff will be swimming the 400 IM in London. Divorce papers with that race, apparently, are in order.
-- Lisa Dillman