Lenny Krayzelburg

Lenny Krayzelburg started to cramp near the end of the men's 200-meter backstroke final Thursday at the Olympic Games at Sydney. With teammate Aaron Peirsol and Australian Matthew Welsh in hot pursuit, Krayzelburg kept battling. "You get to the point where you're trying to move your arms and they're not moving," Krayzelburg said. "You're just going through the motions. You don't really have any control. Basically, I'm just moving my arms. I can't control how fast they're going.

Ten ways to leave Sydney undercover . . . It's time to think about returning home. Why? Well, think of these things that have happened here and there since setting foot and pen on Australian soil. 1. My husband, scribe Mike Penner, became addicted to pseudoephedrine, or in clearer terms, Tylenol cold medicine, thanks to the Times' chef de mission or in clearer terms, chief of the sports department, Bill Dwyre. 2. O.J. . . . C.J. . . .

Anthony Ervin of Valencia qualified for the semifinals in the 50-meter freestyle and Lenny Krayzelburg of Studio City qualified for the final of the 200 backstroke Wednesday at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Ervin, a Hart High graduate and The Times' Valley/Ventura County boys' swimmer of the year as a senior in 1999, timed 22.24 seconds, the fourth-fastest qualifying time. The 19-year-old California sophomore trailed Bart Kizierowski of Poland (22.05), Gary Hall Jr. (22.

Trading places never looked so good and never felt so gratifying. There was a time second place in any race would have greatly annoyed, even angered Lenny Krayzelburg. On Friday, it had Krayzelburg yelling and throwing an arm in the air, announcing to winner Aaron Peirsol that he had Southern California company on the Olympic team in the 100-meter backstroke. It was a shout and a twist on their 2000 Olympic finish in the 200 backstroke.

The longest 53.72 seconds was practically a five-part miniseries for one stressed-out family. There were fears and tears, tension and turmoil and, finally, success. In short, Lenny Krayzelburg's Olympic victory in the 100-meter backstroke, one of two gold medals won by U.S. swimmers Monday night, was something of a microcosm of his family's brave journey from Odessa, Ukraine, to Studio City in 1989.

Lenny Krayzelburg has learned a lot in the pool. When Krayzelburg emigrated from Odessa in the former Soviet Union to Los Angeles in 1989, he didn't know English. But he quickly picked it up while competing for a club team in Santa Monica. "I didn't have much choice," said Krayzelburg, of Studio City. "If I wanted to communicate, I had to learn." Krayzelburg has improved in areas other than linguistics.

Who is Lenny Krayzelburg, anyway? Nearly anyone with a TV set who has happened upon NBC the last few months knows him as an athlete who will be in Sydney. Sports fans know him as best backstroker in the world. Real chlorine clones know he holds the world record in the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes. They have memorized his world-record times--53.60 seconds in the 100 and 1:55.87 in the 200, and if you want to get beyond that, well, there are always split times. He's good. He's fast.

Aaron Peirsol has chased Lenny Krayzelburg for more than a year. He has chased him down the stretch in the 200-meter backstroke, always in vain. That changed Friday. Peirsol, 16, finally caught, then passed the 24-year-old Krayzelburg--the world record-holder in the 200 backstroke--at the Janet Evans Invitational at USC. Peirsol charged in the last 50 meters to win with a time of 1 minute 59.01 seconds. Krayzelburg was second in 1:59.34.