Success arrives like an uninvited wedding guest

FIVE Olympic triumphs, scattered over a period of almost 70 years, had done nothing to prepare Irish sport for the moment when Michelle Smith touched for gold in Atlanta.

For longer than we care to remember, Olympic pools have been theatres of gloom for the Irish. Now, on the evening when Smith scripted her fairytale, success arrived like an uninvited wedding guest.

Here, there were none of the trappings of Ireland's soccer evolution in the Charlton years. A tiny, solitary tricolour, carried by her parents, was the only visible sign of support around a pool.

And, instead of the well worn Ole Ole anthem, the sounds which accompanied the Dubliner as she swam into history were shrieks more redolent of a schoolgirls' hockey game than an Olympic final.

The noise of the partisan crowd was for the young American Allison Wagner as she searched out the win which the locals would have interpreted as no more than the fulfilment of destiny.

But Smith would later confess that she was unaware of Wagner's menacing presence when she opened up a decisive lead on the freestyle in the fourth leg.

Instead, she was pre occupied with the Hungarian, Krisztina Egerszegi, immediately outside her. At Barcelona four years ago, Smith was among the supporting cast as Egerszegi came close to breaking the Olympic record.

On that occasion, the Irish woman struggled to break five minutes when finishing 26th overall. Now the improvement was spectacular and people wanted to know why.

Although there is increasing evidence that the age limits for success are being stretched further and further - even some of the gymnasts are now into their 20s - the coaching manuals make no provision for swimmers peaking at 26.

Of the 32 athletes contesting the four A finals on Saturday, just three, Angel Martino (US), Karole Guttler (Hungary) and Anders Holmertz (Sweden) were older than Smith. And Martino, third in the women's 100 metres freestyle, was the only member of the trio to get a medal.

The Dubliner is not unaware of the innuendos. And, with the practised ease of somebody who has been over and over the same ground many times in the last three years, she delivered the answer in just 18 words.

"I'm more successful now because of I'm leaner, lighter and stronger - and that's down to new training programmes," she said.

Enter Erik de Bruin, her Dutch husband and coach, who met her during the Barcelona Games and has been at her side ever since. De Bruin, a silver medallist in the discus at the World Track and Field Championships five years ago, but later banned after testing positive for a performance enhancing drug, had no real background in swimming but understood both the physiology and psychology of international sport perfectly.

Working off the same training schedule as another Dutch coach who sent out the Belgian, Fred Deburghgraeve to win the loo metres breaststroke on Saturday, he was soon responsible for some dramatically faster performances by Smith.

"There is no great mystery about it," he said after the final. "Just a matter of common sense and a lot of hard work. American coaches talk about the amount of mileage their swimmers do but they never refer to the quality of that mileage.

"The truth very often is that it's dull, repetitive stuff and that is counter productive. We put the emphasis on quality rather than quantity and you can judge the results for yourself," he said.

Between them, they work for anything up to 60 hours each week training, watching videos of races, studying techniques and tactics.

And that same dedication to perfection was in evidence on Saturday when de Bruin stayed with his wife, counselling, until the moment she walked into the pool and took her place on the starting blocks.

He waited so long, in fact, that he was unable to find a seat in the arena and had to settle instead, for watching the race on a television set beneath the stand.

"I cried as I watched her lead through the breastroke leg for after that I knew she would win," he said. "People then began to look at me and I had to explain to them that she was my wife. After that, they understood and were happy with me.

De Bruin was quick to identify the irony of two Dutch coaches preparing swimmers of different nationalities for Olympic success on an evening when the three Dutch swimmers in action failed to make an impact.

"Relations between Holland and Ireland are so good in sport that Michelle's success will be almost as popular in Rotterdam as in Dublin. To be honest we thought Egerszegi would take the gold medal. But there were no excuses from anybody after she had lost.

"It is a great start to the championships for us and I think there is still more improvement in Michelle - still more success to come."