Anita Nall

When Towson native Anita Nall swam her way to silver, bronze and gold medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, she was 16. Nall, now 31, graduated in 1994 from Towson Catholic High and then attended Towson University. In 2000, she moved to Tempe, Ariz., and five years later, graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and Spanish from Arizona State University. "I continued to swim until the 2000 Olympic trials, which was the last time that I did that," Nall said the other day. "Now, I'm a certified life coach, and I'm working on my holistic nutrition certification at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe."

When Towson native Anita Nall swam her way to silver, bronze and gold medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, she was 16. Nall, now 31, graduated in 1994 from Towson Catholic High and then attended Towson University. In 2000, she moved to Tempe, Ariz., and five years later, graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and Spanish from Arizona State University. "I continued to swim until the 2000 Olympic trials, which was the last time that I did that," Nall said the other day. "Now, I'm a certified life coach, and I'm working on my holistic nutrition certification at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe."

The plane bringing U.S. swimming's freshly minted star back to Baltimore hadn't landed when word of her feat came over the public address system at Towson High School.A freshman named Anita "Hall," the announcement said, had been named the top performer at the Phillips 66/U.S. Swimming Spring Nationals over the weekend in Seattle.Hall? Not quite. Anita Nall, whose 15th birthday is still more than three months away, broke the American record in the 200-meter breast stroke and came within 37/100ths of a second of the world mark in winning the event in 2:27.

INDIANAPOLIS - Anita Nall and Michael Phelps killed time one afternoon last week at an Old Navy store near their downtown hotel here. At the checkout line, Nall shook her head and kept quiet. "I asked Michael, `Why are you buying sweats?' He said he needed them," Nall said. "I wanted to say: `Put them back, you don't need them, you'll have all the warm-ups you want in a week.' I let him buy them. I didn't want to jinx him." Nall, an Olympic gold medalist for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club in 1992, was among the family and friends who supported Phelps by respecting coach Bob Bowman's request to stay out of his charge's way. That helped the 15-year-old from Rodgers Forge become the youngest male on the U.S. swim team since 1932, and acquire all the authorized Olympic gear he wants.

The freshest evidence that Baltimore's Anita Nall is among the elite of American swimming comes in the form of a monthly check.The 15-year-old American record-holder in the 200-meter breast stroke is one of more than 30 leading U.S. swimmers receiving $1,500 a month.That's the good news. The bad news -- or some college coaches might construe it as that -- is that Nall, a high school sophomore, has thereby forfeited her NCAA eligibility.fTC If she goes on to college, she will not be allowed to receive an athletic scholarship or compete on a varsity team, although she will be permitted to practice with it. Nall made her decision after consulting with her parents, John and Marilyn Nall, and North Baltimore Aquatic Club coach Murray Stephens.

She is everywhere. On magazine covers. On television. Bobbed brown hair and shimmering eyes. Infectious smile. Irresistible story.Kid swims fast. Very fast. Gets a world record. Becomes an Olympian before she even has a driver's license.Reporters crowd her life. They come from Europe and Asia and across the United States. Two hundred of them. NBC-TV personnel camp out in her home in Towson for two days. They film family meals. They follow her to school. They even troop into her basement bedroom, making sure not to puncture the water bed, and watch as she dresses up for a prom date.

Anita Nall would have a communications degree by now, were it not for her independent premed studies of the past few years. "I went to eight doctors on this journey, maybe 10," Nall said. "After all of the tests I've been given and all of the medicines I've been on, I'm close to being a doctor myself." Nall doesn't have a license to practice, just a keener awareness of several maladies that slowed her swimming career, and how to treat them. "I feel so much better about myself than I did two years ago," Nall said.

Congratulations, Anita Nall! In this game, if George shoots, Saddam wins.

Congratulations to Anita Nall.Turning 16, the Towson Catholic High School junior swam to an Olympic silver medal in the women's 100-meter breast stroke event yesterday in Barcelona, setting an American record, after winning a bronze medal in the 200-meter breast-stroke earlier in the week.She finished in front of the best swimmers in the world (all but one) amid the frantic expectation that mushroomed after she set the world record in 200 meters in March.Anita Nall handled the distracting attention with poise, genuineness and modesty, and concentrated on her stroke.

If Willy Smith's name was just Willy Smith, no one would care about his trial.Ukraine, the original Russia, wants out of Russia. Which is like the original 13 states seceding from the Union.It must be time for Pam to run for Congress. Anita Nall is Baltimore's Official Athlete now.The peacemakers of Lebanon are running out of hostages to release and will have to collect some more.

Anita Nall would have a communications degree by now, were it not for her independent premed studies of the past few years. "I went to eight doctors on this journey, maybe 10," Nall said. "After all of the tests I've been given and all of the medicines I've been on, I'm close to being a doctor myself." Nall doesn't have a license to practice, just a keener awareness of several maladies that slowed her swimming career, and how to treat them. "I feel so much better about myself than I did two years ago," Nall said.

Anita Nall had just turned 16 when she won three swimming medals at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Two years later, she was found to have chronic fatigue syndrome, and her career came to a halt. Now, she is back in the pool and in the early stages of a comeback she hopes will take her to the 2000 Olympics in Australia."I do have hopes of making it," Nall said. "But it's hard for me to think that far ahead. It's two years. It's early for me to say that, but at the same time I have to begin work now to make it."

One broke a world record in swimming before her 16th birthday, the other became a national champion in gymnastics before she turned 18. Now, Anita Nall and Dominique Dawes find themselves in different struggles with the same goal: winning an individual gold medal in next summer's Olympic Games.With the 1996 Summer Games scheduled to begin in Atlanta one year from today, Nall and Dawes are training for a second try, after their medal-winning performances in Barcelona, Spain, three years ago. As both chase their dreams, they are being asked the same, nagging question:Will they be too old for gold?

Brittany White became the sixth North Baltimore Aquatic Club member to qualify for the U.S. Olympic swimming trials next March in Indianapolis.White, a junior-to-be at Dulaney High, swam the 400-meter individual medley in 4 minutes, 55.66 seconds -- almost one second under the qualifying time -- in NBAC's 9th Annual Long Course Championships over the weekend at the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center.White was second to NBAC teammate Whitney Metzler, whose winning time was 4:51.70. Metzler already has qualified for the trials in the 400 and 200 IM.NBAC's other qualifiers are Anita Nall (100 and 200 breaststroke)

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- It took more than two months for Anita Nall to return to swimming. It took a little more than two minutes at the Phillips 66 spring nationals for her to discover she's on the way back.The 1992 Olympic gold medalist did not compete from December through the end of February while battling mononucleosis. She returned to the water in February and competed for the first time yesterday. She responded with a second-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke."Everyone thinks I'm so upset because I didn't win, but I'm happy to get second," said Nall, a senior at Towson Catholic.

The past year has been less than kind to 1992 Olympic swimming medalist Anita Nall.Mononucleosis, first diagnosed last spring as the flu, reduced and hindered her training and affected her meet performances for part of last year. A recurrence of mono kept her out of the water from Dec. 1 until Feb. 1.Then, two weeks ago, Australia's Rebecca Brown broke Nall's 200-meter breaststroke world record of 2 minutes, 25.35 seconds with a time of 2:24.76.Now, tentatively, Nall is attempting a comeback.

HERNDON, Va. -- Anita Nall's North Baltimore Aquatic Club teammates pressed against the fence in Dulles International Airport's visitors lobby, eagerly asking questions."

INDIANAPOLIS -- The onslaught is coming. Marilyn and John Nall can see that now.A week ago, their daughter, Anita, was a closely kept secret, the kid who liked sleeping at home on a water bed and who was so fanatical about recycling, she would bring home wastepaper from school.Now, suddenly, she's a world-record holder.Bob Costas wants to talk with her. A couple of agents circle her as she emerges from the pool. A woman peddling Power Bars is shoving a business card at her, even as she stands dripping wet, reaching for a towel.

Expectations. In sports, they can be brutal.Lou Holtz was saying that on Roy Firestone's show on ESPN this week. He said the toughest thing about coaching at Notre Dame are the expectations.We all know what that means at ND: win 'em all big -- or else!I thought about expectations yesterday as I watched a teen-aged swimmer hurry into the Meadowbrook pool in Mount Washington, peel down to her tank suit and dunk herself in the deep end to begin a workout.It was Anita Nall, a year after the Olympics.

Normal, she's not.Most 16-year-olds don't have a lawyer, a used Volvo, an endorsement contract, a world record and three Olympic medals.But Anita Nall always has been comfortable shattering barriers and resetting rules.Eight months after emerging from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, as one of America's brightest stars and one of its youngest swimming professionals, she is coping with the everyday stresses and struggles of her junior year at Towson Catholic High School.Out: NBC.In: trigonometry.