By PHillip Whitten
LONG BEACH, Calif., July 12. GOING into the 100 meter freestyle final, Natalie Coughlin was the overwhelming favorite — especially after her impressive victory in the 100m backstroke. If anyone could catch Nat, most experts intoned, it could only be veteran superstar Jenny Thompson.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation. Almost no one figured on Kara Lynn Joyce. Sure, Joyce had won two sprint titles at the NCAA Championships in March. But the 18 year-old Georgia freshman was just too inexperienced, too green, to contend with the likes of Natalie and Jenny.
Wrong! As her coach, Jack Bauerle, pointed out, Kara Lynn's best traits are her work ethic and competitiveness. "She's willing to work," he said, "and she doesn't have a sprinter's mentality.
"Her best traits are her work ethic and competitiveness," he said.
Where does that competitiveness come from? "From growing up with two older brothers," Kara Lynn says. Whether she's swimming or playing soccer, Monopoly or RISK ("world domination," she says, laughing), Kara Lynn is competitive.
Tonight, everything was going according to form for the first 50. Natalie opened up a commanding lead, turning in 26.14, while Jenny was lurking in third in 26.34. Kara Lynn was fourth in 26.42.
But Kara Lynn had a lot left for the second lap, and she quickly passed Jenny, then Georgia teammate Maritza Correia. Coming under the flags, she caught Natalie, then out-touched her at the wall, 54.38 to 54.42. amanda Weir, seventh at the 50, finished third in 54.63, while Maritza touched fourth in 54.77, becoming the first black woman to make a US Olympic swim team.