Star Swimmers

OUT OF RETIREMENT AND INTO CAREERISM

Matt Biondi, U.S.

After Mark Spitz won seven gold medals at Munich in 1972, he retired into legendhood -- save for a brief belly flop back into racing last year. Matt Biondi, who took relay gold in Los Angeles in 1984 and seven medals, five gold, in Seoul in 1988, retired too. But he unretired a lot quicker. His passion the past four years has been to create career opportunities for mature swimmers like him -- seeking stipends and commercial sponsorship so post- collegiate athletes can hang on. He succeeded. His six-figure income reflects prize purses and exhibition fees of up to $25,000, some for races of 50 m lasting just over 20 sec. against longtime rival and Olympic teammate Tom Jager. He endorses swimsuits and looks ultra-hip in a TV ad campaign for ) sunglasses. In Barcelona, Biondi, 26, will appear in at most four events -- the 50- and 100-m freestyle races, a freestyle relay and perhaps the medley relay -- and only in the relays is he a solid bet for gold. If he wins medals of any color in all four, however, he will top the career mark of 11 by a male swimmer. The recordholder: Mark Spitz.

DOWN AND DOUR EXCEPT WHEN WET

Alexander Popov, Unified Team

His future in the pool is bright and his smile is winning, but Alexander Popov takes an austere, even bleak view of the world outside. The 100-m freestyle swimmer, who won the European championship last year, worries about Russia's future and takes an intensely frugal approach to life. "I look soberly on literally everything, even on girls. I am totally unromantic," he says.

That dourness seems to change as soon as Popov, 21, hits the water. "While I'm swimming, I sing songs in my mind," he says. His career is following an upbeat tune. An avid admirer of Mark Spitz, the Russian youth won the Soviet junior championship as a backstroker at 14. Since 1990, when his coach persuaded him to switch to freestyle, he has been nearly unbeatable. He has defeated his main rival, Matt Biondi, in their last six meetings. "At first I thought that he didn't take me seriously," says the younger swimmer. But Biondi takes him seriously now -- as does everybody else.

SOMETIMES HE FEELS LIKE A NUT

Nelson Diebel, U.S.

He lied his way into the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., claiming swimming prowess he didn't have. He made the team, but then for a stunt he tried jumping into a pool from a balcony and landed on the deck, breaking both arms. Six months later, in 1988, Nelson Diebel won his first national title. Later he tattooed the Olympic rings on his hip and arrived at the '89 nationals with a double Mohawk -- one side dyed black, the other white. "Nelson's the wildest, most accident-prone human being who ever lived," says his coach, Chris Martin. "But you can't beat his talent." During the U.S. Olympic trials last March, Diebel swam the second fastest 100-m breaststroke in history.

Diebel, 21, is now a Princeton sophomore with a B average, but that hasn't softened his edge. Last year he sported a bristly initial P growing atop his otherwise bald noggin. Says Diebel: "You'll find some weird stuff on my head." In it too.