Chad Carvin

School: Laguna Hills High Sport: Swimming Events: 200-, 500-yard freestyle Class: Junior Carvin wasn't satisfied with merely winning the 500-yard freestyle at the Southern Section Division 2-A swimming championships Saturday. He wanted to break the division record set in 1988 by another Chad--Chad Hundeby of Woodbridge. Carvin, who finished second in the event last year, won in 4 minutes 22.

The men's 200 freestyle in the U.S. Olympic swim trials ended without fanfare Friday. No records were broken, and, predictably, Michael Phelps and Klete Keller finished first and second. Few were paying attention to the swimmer in Lane 6. After finishing seventh, he climbed out of the pool and walked back to the warmup area. He paused to hug some friends and then bent over to lean on the railing, catching his breath from what he said was probably his last race.

His brilliant swimming career seemed long gone, but Chad Carvin was alive and he wouldn't have to get involved in an agonizingly long wait for a heart transplant. And if he couldn't have swimming, well, there was the challenge of a new competitive hobby, mountain bike racing. Those were the realities Carvin faced while he watched his friends and competitors reach Olympic glory last summer in Atlanta.

Olympic silver medalist Chad Carvin withdrew from the Tyr Swim Meet of Champions Thursday in Mission Viejo and is scheduled to have four wisdom teeth removed today. Carvin, who first posted the best time Thursday in the men's 800-meter freestyle, was supposed to compete in at least 10 other events during the four-day international meet at the Marguerite Recreation Center. His time in the 800 was 8:05.41, about four seconds off the meet record.

The most memorable moment of Chad Carvin's high school swim career was not one of his patented blow 'em-out-of-the-water, eat-my-wake victories. In fact, it wasn't any kind of a victory. No, the race the Laguna Hills High School senior said he will always remember was one he lost. His last one. It was the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Hawks, who trailed Walnut, needed to win the race to win the Southern Section 2-A championship.

If Chad Carvin makes the U.S. Olympic swim team, his mother, Judy, is afraid that the nation will soon be bored with her son's story. "I've told my friends to watch out. You know those features they tell over and over until you feel like screaming 'Shut up'? That's going to be Chad." Judy Carvin is probably right. Chad Carvin, from Laguna Niguel and the Mission Viejo Nadadores, is in Athens, Greece, this weekend at the World Short Course Championships.

Chad Carvin continued his comeback Friday with an 800-meter freestyle national championship in the USA Swimming Nationals at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Carvin, who had a heart condition in 1996 and back injuries last year, earned the title with a second-place time of 8 minutes 0.53 seconds. South Africa's Ryk Neethling won in 7:59.41, but swimmers who aren't American citizens are ineligible for the championship.

Lenny Krayzelburg and Aaron Peirsol--two of the top backstrokers in the world--and world record-holder Chad Carvin are entered in the Speedo Grand Challenge today and Saturday at the Heritage Park Aquatic Complex in Irvine. Preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. and the finals are at 5 p.m. each day. Krayzelburg, who attended USC, holds world records in the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes. Peirsol, a sophomore at Newport Harbor High, swam the third-fastest time ever in the 200 backstroke in March.

Olympic silver medalist Chad Carvin withdrew from the Tyr Swim Meet of Champions Thursday in Mission Viejo and is scheduled to have four wisdom teeth removed today. Carvin, who first posted the best time Thursday in the men's 800-meter freestyle, was supposed to compete in at least 10 other events during the four-day international meet at the Marguerite Recreation Center. His time in the 800 was 8:05.41, about four seconds off the meet record.

There is no rest for Chad Carvin, no time to savor the moment. A triumphant performance at the World Short Course Championships in Athens last week is history. He is already looking at next week's U.S. Swimming spring senior nationals in Seattle, and peeking ahead to this summer's Olympic trials, where he hopes to be peaking. "That is a long way off, but you want to always be thinking about it," said Carvin, a Laguna Hills High School graduate who lives in Laguna Niguel.

Here's the thing about the Olympics. For every athlete who wins, there are many more who don't. For every celebration, there are many more disappointments. I'm trying very hard here to avoid "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat," but there it is. I've said it. Chad Carvin knew the agony. He tried to feel the thrill. After all, he had won a silver medal. But he wasn't sure that he had earned it.

Chad Carvin cried in the afternoon after his swim in the preliminaries. Carvin cried in the evening while he was still in the pool and cried later when he in the arms of his mother, Judie. Carvin cried because he never thought he would see this day. He cried for his mother, who nursed him back to health twice. He cried for his coaches for believing in him. He cried because, for all the times he closed his eyes and imagined the moment of becoming a U.S.

Even if Chad Carvin slogs his way through the water at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Indianapolis this week and the closest he ever gets to Australia is renting a Crocodile Dundee movie, he will not be devastated. After all, what are these trials compared to his past tribulations? In 1995, he was training for a shot at the 1996 Summer Olympics, and his chances were so good that his trials appearance seemed a formality. Then, inexplicably, his times got slower.

Chad Carvin didn't look like a swimmer who had just posted a world-class finish. Carvin grinned and acknowledged that his facial stubble and a large amount of unshaven body hair made his impressive victory in the men's 200-meter freestyle Saturday at the Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo all the more improbable. "I'll have to shave for the Olympic trials. I have no choice about that," he said. On another day when Japanese swimmers knocked off records, Carvin's meet-record of 1 minute 50.

Lenny Krayzelburg and Aaron Peirsol--two of the top backstrokers in the world--and world record-holder Chad Carvin are entered in the Speedo Grand Challenge today and Saturday at the Heritage Park Aquatic Complex in Irvine. Preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. and the finals are at 5 p.m. each day. Krayzelburg, who attended USC, holds world records in the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes. Peirsol, a sophomore at Newport Harbor High, swam the third-fastest time ever in the 200 backstroke in March.

There is no rest for Chad Carvin, no time to savor the moment. A triumphant performance at the World Short Course Championships in Athens last week is history. He is already looking at next week's U.S. Swimming spring senior nationals in Seattle, and peeking ahead to this summer's Olympic trials, where he hopes to be peaking. "That is a long way off, but you want to always be thinking about it," said Carvin, a Laguna Hills High School graduate who lives in Laguna Niguel.

Chad Carvin cried in the afternoon after his swim in the preliminaries. Carvin cried in the evening while he was still in the pool and cried later when he in the arms of his mother, Judie. Carvin cried because he never thought he would see this day. He cried for his mother, who nursed him back to health twice. He cried for his coaches for believing in him. He cried because, for all the times he closed his eyes and imagined the moment of becoming a U.S.

After swimming a dismal 100-meter freestyle during preliminaries on the last day of the Speedo Grand Challenge on Sunday, Jason Lezak wanted to make up for it somehow. He did, and he did it in record fashion. Lezak, a U.S. national team member who swims for the Irvine Novaquatics, won in 50.94 second--more than two seconds faster than his prelim tim--beating the record of former Woodbridge High star and Turkish Olympian Derya Buyukuncu by nearly a second.

If Chad Carvin makes the U.S. Olympic swim team, his mother, Judy, is afraid that the nation will soon be bored with her son's story. "I've told my friends to watch out. You know those features they tell over and over until you feel like screaming 'Shut up'? That's going to be Chad." Judy Carvin is probably right. Chad Carvin, from Laguna Niguel and the Mission Viejo Nadadores, is in Athens, Greece, this weekend at the World Short Course Championships.

Chad Carvin continued his comeback Friday with an 800-meter freestyle national championship in the USA Swimming Nationals at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Carvin, who had a heart condition in 1996 and back injuries last year, earned the title with a second-place time of 8 minutes 0.53 seconds. South Africa's Ryk Neethling won in 7:59.41, but swimmers who aren't American citizens are ineligible for the championship.