Tokyo—As a kid Chase Kalisz followed his older sister Courtney to the famed North Baltimore Aquatic Club but would dive into the pool that produced Michael Phelps only when enticed by people throwing coins to the water.
If he was lucky, the former Georgia NCAA champion, later recalled, he might come back up with more than a dollar.
Sunday morning a world and decades away from his childhood days of searching for precious medal at the bottom of pools, Chase Kalisz found gold at the end of the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Kalisz won the first swimming gold medal of these Olympics Games in the first Olympic final in the post-Phelps era, capturing the 400-meter individual medley title that eluded him four years earlier in Rio de Janeiro and leading a 1-2 Team USA sweep with Jay Litherland, Kalisz’s training partner at the Athens Bulldog Swim Club, claiming the silver medal.
“It is my lifelong dream,” said Kalisz, “It is what everyone dreams of in the sport. I do feel like I let the US down in 2016, even though I swam faster here. The US has a proud legacy in the 400m individual medley. This was my redemption story.”
Indeed the nature of UGA, uh, USA sweep was befitting two fighters who had overcome childhood obstacles.
Leon Marchand, the French 19-year-old who has committed to Arizona State, took the early lead with Kalisz trailing in second. Marchand began to fade near the 200 mark with New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt leading at the halfway mark, Kalisz still second 1:59.99 to 2:00.33. But 50 meters Kalisz had taken a lead that he stretched to nearly three seconds with 100 to go. Kalisz touched the wall in 4 minutes, 9.42 seconds.
“That is really cool that I am the first and I hope it motivates the rest of the team for some more kick-ass performances,” said Kalisz, who at 27 years, 140 days becomes the second oldest Olympic 400 IM champion in history.
“Since the starter beeped everything has been a blur. I don’t know when it (reality) is going to kick in. This is a lifelong dream. I’ve accomplished everything, world titles, NCAA titles and this is the last thing I wanted to check off.”
Litherland, sixth with 100 to go, fourth at the final turn, finished in 4:10.28, Australia’s Brendon Smith taking the bronze medal at tenth of a second back (4:10.38).
It was the U.S. men’s ninth 400 IM gold medal, Team USA’s sixth in the last seven Games, two of them among Phelp’s Olympic record 23 golds. The sweep was also marked the seventh time the U.S. has gone 1-2 in the event, the first time since Phelps and Erik Vendt took the top two spots in 2004 in Athens.
“We are off to a pretty good start,” Kalisz said referring to both the Tokyo Olympics and Team USA in the post-Phelps era. “This has been a year of massive uncertainty and dramas for the team. We’ve even had problems getting over here. But the team has really come together in these last moments (before the Games). I’m amped to see my team-mates swim.”
Litherland is a triplet and he and his brothers Mick and Kevin were born two months prematurely in Osaka because of doctor concerns about breathing issues. Litherland and his brothers first started swimming because doctors thought it would help develop the boys’ lungs. Litherland’s father is New Zealand, his mother Japanese. From Osaka the family relocated to the United Arab Emirates then California and finally Miami before Litherland headed off the Georgia.
One night when Kalisz was eight he noticed he was having trouble moving his arms and legs. Within minutes the condition had deteriorated to the point that he was reduced to crawling to his parents’ bedroom to alert them. At first the family thought he was just suffering the after effects from running a 5K race the day before. Instead Kalisz was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome, a rare disorder that attacks the nerves. Kalisz was semi-paralyzed. It took six months of rehabilitation before he could exercise again.
Kalisz eventually got into the NABC pool without being enticed prodded He found a mentor in Phelps, the 23-time Olympic champion, two of those gold medals coming in the 400 IM.
“Michael is very supportive,” Kalisz said at the Olympic Trials last month “He’ll give me a kick in the (butt) if I need it, and sometimes I need it. Michael has been an older brother to me in my life. I remember interacting with Michael when I was 6 years old — and here we are 21 years later.”
Kalisz hoped to follow Phelps’ footsteps to the top of the 400 IM medal podium in Rio. But his late surge came up short and Japan’s Kosuke Hagino edged Kalisz for the gold. Litherland was fifth.
“It feels good,” Litherland said Sunday. “It is a dream of mine. In Rio I got fifth and it didn’t feel satisfying. To come back and do this with Chase. It means a lot.”
The sweep was also a triumph for the other major influence in Kalisz and Litherland’s swimming, Georgia coach Jack Bauerle.
Bauerle ventured to down to Athens from the Philadelphia suburbs in the 1970s and never left. Starting with a rundown pool that appeared more likely to be condemned than produce Olympians, Bauerle, in a college town known for producing tailbacks and R.E.M., Drive By Truckers and the B-52s, somehow Between the Hedges and the Love Shacks and the 40 Watt built a world class swim program.
Bauerle eventually got a new pool and went onto lead Georgia to seven NCAA team titles. Bulldog swimmers have won 174 NCAA individual winners and earned more than 2,000 All-American awards.
Kalisz’s victory produced the 15th Olympic gold medal won by a Bauerle coached athlete, the sweep delivering the 32nd and 33rd medals by Georgia swimmers.
But even Bauerle’s coaching skills were tested by the challenge of finding places to train in the middle of a pandemic.
“The world had a pretty crazy year,” Litherland said.
Unable to swim at the Georgia pool, Bauerle scrambled to find any body of water to throw his troops in. Often that meant swimming in the backyard pools of Bauerle’s friends.
“We were swimming in 17-meter pools,” Kalisz said.
Sunday the pool was the full 50 meters. Just like the one he dove into so many times as a boy in North Baltimore. Only this morning he emerged with gold.
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Kalisz, Litherland complete UGA, uh, USA Olympic sweep - OCRegister
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