Olympic champion

Dealing with asthma and poor air quality, Tom Dolan could barely breathe at the 1996 Atlanta Games. But as the reigning world champion and world record holder in the 400-meter individual medley, he was determined to win Olympic gold. "Coming off the 350 wall," he says, "my legs were burning pretty bad, and I couldn't get any oxygen. I knew it was between me and Eric (Namesnik), and I just gave it everything I had coming into the wall." Dolan touched first, just ahead of fellow-American Namesnik, who got the silver.

World record holder

Dolan was 18 when he entered the 1994 World Championships. He remembers being near all the big stars and noticing they were staring at him. "When you're an American it doesn't matter if you are a favorite or a nobody," he says. "You walk in the room and the other swimmers fear you." There was reason to fear Dolan, who won the 400 IM title in world record time (4:12.30). He successfully defended his world title four years later in Perth, Australia (4:14.95).

The homestretch

Dolan grew up in Arlington, Virginia, and his early development as a swimmer was under the guidance of Rick Curl. At the University of Michigan, he trained under head coach Jon Urbanchek, who helped mold Dolan into an Olympic champion. During breaks from school, Dolan would re-unite with Curl, and in the lead-up to Sydney, he has returned home full-time. In April 2000, Dolan told the Detroit Free Press, "My whole career I had gone back and forth, but now I'm spending the whole year here with Rick. But I know that no matter where I go and swim, I'll always be linked to Michigan and to Jon, just as I will to Rick."

Sibling rivalry

Dolan began swimming at age 5, because his older sister Kathleen was a swimmer. "Whatever she did, I wanted to beat her," he says. While he says he was a "pool rat" as a child, he didn't aggressively pursue swimming until his freshman year in high school. Golf was his favorite sport then -- he played for his high school team until his junior year -- and he has hinted that he might try to qualify for the Senior Tour after he retires from swimming.

Rebounding from injury

After injuring himself playing pick-up basketball, Dolan underwent arthroscopic surgery in May 1999 to repair a complex tear in his right knee. He set personal records for training during his comeback, sometimes swimming as many as 70 miles in one week. Dolan returned to action in November 1999 at a FINA World Cup event (short course), placing second in the 400-meter individual medley and eighth in the 200 IM. Two weeks later, in his return to long-course competition at the U.S. Open, Dolan finished sixth in the 400 IM and 17th in the 200 IM. Continuing his progress at the 2000 U.S. Nationals, Dolan won the 400 free (and non-Olympic 800 free) and finished runner-up to Tom Wilkens in the 200 and 400 IMs.

Dressed for success

Dolan puts on a new suit and a new pair of goggles for every race. It's not a fashion fetish, rather a good-luck routine that evolved after the 1994 World Championships. At that meet, he won the world title and broke the world record in a pair of goggles with a black strap. He wore the same pair at every meet after that until they broke at the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials. Then he started the routine of changing for every race. Now, all of his goggles must have a black strap.