Page 6- The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - September 14, 1992 NiYo Continued from page 3 down, maintaining focus, while fine- tuning his race techniques in the five months prior to heading over to Europe. After a stop in Tampa, Fla., where most of the U.S. athletes re- ceived a celebratory sendoff this summer, Namesnik headed to France. There he stayed, a short two hours north of Barcelona, for two weeks leading up to the Olympics. Also competing in Barcelona were sophomore teammate Gustavo Borges of Brazil, and two incoming freshmen - Marcel Wouda from the Netherlands, and American Royce Sharp. More importantly, though, his own Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek made the trip as a member of the U.S. coaching staff. "Half the guys don't have their own coaches over there," Namesnik said. "I've been lucky enough that every international competition over the last four or five years, I've had him with me. That has helped tremendously." He needed all the help he could get. Staring Namesnik in the face every time he steps on the starting block in international competition is something more than just a world- class field of swimmers. There is Tamas Darnyi. The 25-year-old world-record holder from Hungary has not been beaten in the 400 IM since the 1984 Olympics, and he has won every Olympic and world championship title since. This summer he added Barcelona to his impressive list. Namesnik settled for silver. Not a bad thing to have to settle for, though, an Olvmuic silver medal. "It was a little disappointing, but at the same time I was just happy to get a silver medal," he said. "I would have been severely disappointed if I had finished lower than second." For awhile, it appeared that Namesnik had a chance to pull off the upset. He survived the morning preliminaries and qualified for the final with the fastest time. Darnyi was second. Namesnik's goal in the final was to push Darnyi, to let him know this race would not be another simple formality. "I wanted to make him work early on," he said. "He's never really had anyone with him going into the final leg." Make him work, he did. Darnyi began to look flustered as the two swam the third leg, the breaststroke. Repeatedly, he turned his head to find Namesnik. Repeatedly, he found him. And the pesky American wasn't faltering. They were even heading into the penultimate turn. But then it hap- ][utseli's S, d ~~Val u Land, Your Food Store Woodland Plaza- Corner of South Main St & Ann Arbor Saline Rd ONE MILE SOUTH OF THE STADIUM OPEN 24 HRS F STUDENTS 1 pened. A bad turn as he started the freestyle leg. Namesnik hit the wall in good shape, but his hand slipped and he lost momentum as he pushed off. When he came up, Darnyi was a half-body length in front. The Hungarian cruised home in 4 min- utes 14.23 seconds, an Olympic record. Namesnik touched in 4:15.57, left to wonder, "What if ..." "I knew I was in trouble," he said. "With a guy like (Darnyi), if you give him some room, that's all he needs. I don't want to make ex- cuses, though. I mean, who knows what would have happened if I had made a better turn? Maybe I would have won, maybe not." To be settled in Atlanta? Maybe. Darnyi said after the race that he had no intentions of retiring. Namesnik, eyeing the 1994 World Champion- ships, says he'll wait and see. For now, he's seems relieved to be back home. "I just want to get back into school right now," he said, "and to get back to swimming with the team. "That was maybe the hardest thing about all of this. I missed out on a lot of the team-building types of things. I trained with the guys, but I didn't travel to any of the meets -- that sort of thing." The return of Namesnik, com- bined with the arrival of Sharp and Wouda, bolsters the already talented Wolverine squad. As he talks about goals - team goals now - Eric Namesnik is re- laxed. The relief is readily apparent. For one year, he heaped pressure on himself. That pressure came to a head last month and then, suddenly, was gone. And Eric Namesnik was left with a wonderful experience and lasting memories. There was the afternoon he spent at the White House with all the other Olympic athletes, getting his picture taken with the President, chatting with White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater - and then eating lunch while sitting on the floor in-_. side. On the floor? "They didn't know what to do with us," he said. "There were 550 of us and they had everything set up,,;, on the South Lawn, but it started tg;, rain. "So we all packed inside and we sat there eating hot dogs and ham- burgers on paper plates with plastic. forks. And all the secret service guys were just shaking their heads." One for the scrapbook, right next to the list of famous people met - like sharing small talk with Evander. Holyfield. "That's when you realize, 'Wow, this really is a big deal,"' Namesnik said. "I mean, you're talking to these , people that are big stars, and they're, actually more interested in you than you are in them." Namesnik missed the opening ceremonies, opting to stay home. rather than spend six hours standing in the sweltering heat just two days- before his event. He missed out on many of the, tourist attractions, he said, and didn't get to see too many of the more popular Olympic events, as seats were hard to come by. Tickets from-. Jennifer Capriati for some of them tennis competition were the high,4 light of the two weeks. Still, his Olympic experience was...i better than most. "I think it's something like 10, percent of the athletes that actually win a medal," said Namesnik, whose A silver piece of history is tucked away in a safety deposit box. "I'll always have that. This is something that, when I'm 60 years old, I can tell my grandkids about. Nobody can ever. take that away." 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