Sports Records

National swim team coaches from the United States, Hong Kong and Australia suspect the Chinese women's team of using steroids in the wake of China's world-best performances during last month's Asian Games. Richard Quick, coach of the U.S. national team and Stanford women's team, said he felt obligated to speak out after the Chinese produced three times that rank No. 1 in the world this year and three others that are No. 2 during the competition at Beijing.

The wins kept coming. So did the games. Three in a row. Five in six days. It didn't matter that the rest of the NBA, and the calendar, conspired against the Lakers 41 seasons ago. Logistics couldn't bother them in a season when they didn't seem to grasp the meaning of Ls. The team that would win 33 consecutive games, still the longest streak for a major U.S. professional team, often arrived in a city on a midday flight and played a...

It all started innocently enough. The Cincinnati Reds' leadoff hitter, Mariano Duncan, walked and stole second base. Luis Quinones bunted and beat it out. "I played for one run and I got 14," Manager Pete Rose said. The Reds scored 14 runs on 16 hits, all in the first inning, and went on to beat the Houston Astros, 18-2, Thursday at Cincinnati. The 16 hits set a modern major league record for one inning.

Michael Phelps shared his celebration with a pool and a world. He put his arm around the South African kid who had just beaten him in one of his signature races, guiding the protege through the medal protocol. He went out of his way to compliment a French sprinter on what he thought was one of the five best swims of all time. He gathered his relay teammates to thank them for their help, and to tell them he might be too choked up to sing the national anthem. And then he left the pool, with a giddy smile and the greatest collection of medals any Olympian has ever seen.

David Klingler threw an NCAA-record 11 touchdown passes and tied the NCAA season record of 47 scoring throws in a season, leading No. 12 Houston to an 84-21 victory over Eastern Washington on Saturday. A week ago, the Texas Longhorns beat Houston, 45-24, knocking the Cougars (9-1) out of a chance to win the national championship and ending their 12-game winning streak. Klingler wanted to put that behind them in a hurry.

Two days after announcing his return to the NBA, Magic Johnson signed a one-year contract extension Thursday for the 1994-95 season believed to be worth a record $14.6, payable even if he does not play. That gives Johnson the largest single-season salary in team sports, and, considering the $2.5 million he will make each of the next two years, makes the next three seasons worth $19.6 million.

They were throwing passes and breaking records like crazy Saturday in the Astrodome, which may need a new name in honor of University of Houston quarterback Andre Ware. The Warehouse? Although Ware played only the first half in Houston's 95-21 Southwest Conference victory over Southern Methodist, he passed for 517 yards, a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. record for a half, and helped the Cougars reach another remarkable NCAA milestone--1,021 yards of total offense.

Few anticipated the oldest world record in swimming would be sunk Sunday at the TYR Swim Meet of Champions. Certainly not Kate Ziegler of Great Falls, Va. But as she completed one stroke after another in the women's 1,500-meter freestyle at the Mission Viejo Aquatic Center, it became clear that something rare was brewing on the final day of the four-day meet. By the time Ziegler completed the 15-lap race, the edges of the pool were lined with cheering spectators, coaches and competitors.

There was a stage, there was a Fuhrman and there were 20 family members and friends watching. Nobody left disappointed. The spotlight fell on one person Saturday in weightlifting at the U.S. Olympic Festival, which is exactly the way that clan likes it. Diana Fuhrman, a graduate of Van Nuys High who now lives in Simi Valley, dominated the second day of competition as she dominated the 148 3/4-pound class, setting national records for snatch, clean and jerk and combined weight.

Meseret Defar, a slight and wide-eyed 23-year-old from Ethiopia who vomited two minutes before the start of her two-mile race Sunday at the Adidas Track Classic at the Home Depot Center, went out and set a world record. Orange juice, hash browns, bread and cheese had been the breakfast that made her sick. But instead of dropping out, as she feared she might, Defar finished as the crowd of 6,208 roared at her time of 9 minutes 10.47 seconds.

One wonders if Jose Reyes would understand the juxtaposition of what he did Wednesday. One also wonders if there could be any better illustration of the difference between sports stars of the past and of today. Reyes started for the New York Mets, collected a bunt single and sat down for the rest of the game. He hoped his one-for-one day would boost him to a National League batting title, which it did. Going to the plate for the rest of the game would have endangered that.

How many times have we heard, over the years, the word "unassailable" in terms of sports records? It has gotten difficult, however, to hold off on adding the qualifier "seemingly unassailable" to all but the most otherworldly records. Still there are marks surely able to survive the test of time. (Well, seemingly able to survive). Add to that list the three-day, record-setting tennis match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon, the longest by far in the sport's history, both in terms of time (11 hours 5 minutes)

The road to Storrs runs through small towns and stretches of wooded countryside where the trees are still mostly bare. On a drizzly afternoon with few cars around, it is hard to imagine that day in 1995 when the people of Connecticut lined this route for miles on end, waving flags, cheering as their college basketball team came home with a championship trophy. Their women's college basketball team. "From the airport all the way to campus," recalled Geno Auriemma, the women's coach at the University of Connecticut.

In mid-2008 when the NHRA indefinitely shortened its top-fuel and funny car races for safety reasons, it raised a question: Should there be record speeds and times kept for that distance? The National Hot Rod Assn. initially decided no. But starting last September, the sanctioning body started allowing records for the shorter distance, partly because the records earn their drivers championship bonus points in the sport's top-level Full Throttle Series. The distance for NHRA drag racing always had been one-quarter mile, or 1,320 feet.

The Lakers are more than a basketball team, they are a social glue, connecting a diverse city with brightly splashed layers of entertainment and excellence. The Lakers are not about individual statistics, they are about team championships, the annual push by parts that are never greater than the whole, the quiet owner who never closes his wallet, the humble late announcer who never missed a game. The Lakers have become Southern California's strongest and most enduring sports fabric not only because they win, but because of how they continually sacrifice their egos and agenda in the attainment of that victory.

The swimsuit controversy threatening to overtake swimming officially came to a close at the end of 2009. This doesn't mean, however, there won't be a ripple effect in 2010 and beyond. With a return to the textile suit, and a recently imposed ban on high-tech polyurethane bodysuits, there are several remaining questions. World records almost lost their prestige during the frenzy of the last two years, so, how hard will it be to break one now? "I think it'll be interesting to see which record goes down first," said swim star Michael Phelps.

One wonders if Jose Reyes would understand the juxtaposition of what he did Wednesday. One also wonders if there could be any better illustration of the difference between sports stars of the past and of today. Reyes started for the New York Mets, collected a bunt single and sat down for the rest of the game. He hoped his one-for-one day would boost him to a National League batting title, which it did. Going to the plate for the rest of the game would have endangered that.

Stanford's Janet Evans broke Tracy Caulkins' 11-year-old American record in the 500-yard freestyle, and Leigh Ann Fetter of Texas became the first woman to break 22 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, at the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships Thursday. Second-ranked Texas led all teams after the first day of the three-day championships with 203 points. Top-ranked Stanford is second with 177 and Florida has 122.

Back when Nike was a goddess and not something to put on your feet, Olympic runners raced barefoot. What a difference a few millenniums make. Today's runners, with the rare exception of, say, a Zola Budd, wear shoes hyper-designed to cushion heel strike, improve toe-off and minimize flex, all in ultra-lightweight materials. That's not to mention the training regimens, physical therapists and bouncier tracks.

Swimmers set 11 world records in the first two days of the world championships, proof that the supposed stewards of the sport have turned the sublime into the ridiculous. Records that stood for years now change hands within hours, and more will fall in the last six days of competition at Rome's Foro Italico pool. "This is just ridiculous," five-time Olympian Dara Torres told reporters in Rome.