"I don't know if people really do appreciate how awesome she is," Jenny Thompson says. The most decorated women's swimmer in U.S. history, Thompson is in pretty good position to judge. She doesn't see a more dominant competitor on the women's side.
"Even when she was 14, she had the shine, the mentality of a champion," says Thompson, who has 12 Olympic medals from four Games. "I'm really happy that she's grown into the sport and grown into her success. She's just taking it to another level."
It's not hard to track Hoff's path. Her Olympic rise has paralleled that of Phelps, four years removed. Phelps first set foot on the Olympic stage as a 15-year-old, getting his feet wet at the 2000 Games. Hoff was 15 when she made her Olympic debut in Athens. Phelps blew up four years later, and Hoff is poised to do the same next month in Beijing.
"I think the fact that she grew up with Michael Phelps training, I think that probably adds sort of, `Oh yeah, I can be the world-record [holder] in five events, it's not a big deal,'" Thompson says.
"I think she's going to have her own presence in Beijing. I think Michael had the prior success in other Olympics that makes him more notable and more public. But I think Katie has that opportunity in these Games, but also in the future as well."
Similar to the way Phelps became a topic for discussion at dinner tables across the country four years ago, Hoff is about to give everyone something to chew on this summer.
Sure, the tight-knit swimming community has known since Hoff returned home from Athens that her future was plenty bright. And she has reaffirmed that in nearly every meet since. But how many outsiders took notice? We've finally reached the part of the Olympic calendar when casual fans start to pay attention.
If you're just now tuning in, Baltimore is sending two remarkable athletes into the Beijing swimming pool, and both have a chance at history. (While there will probably be stiffer competition on the women's side next month, most agree that Hoff will only get better, and we might not fully realize how special she is until the 2012 Olympics - again, similar to Phelps.)
There was a time when the experts said we would have to wait a lifetime to find another swimmer as versatile and dominant as Michael Phelps. That might not be the case after all.
Turns out, we might have needed to wait only four years.
rick.maese@baltsun.com
