OLYMPICS: The Games: Up in the Air

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Ender, who started swimming at five and won three silver medals as a 13-year-old at Munich, has since turned in a score of world-record performances. Arguably the best woman swimmer of all time, she explodes from the starting block with such force that she is often 3 feet ahead of the field when heads break water. She dives shallow and planes high like a speedboat, with much of her body out of the water. Her motion is so efficient—though not stylish—that she is able to set world records while taking substantially fewer strokes per minute than the women she leaves in her wake. After the Olympics, Ender may retire and next year begin pediatric studies at medical school. Says she: "Swimming is just my hobby."

One aspect of the swimming competition was not in the pool at all, but in the supremacy battle between the East German women and the U.S. men. By Saturday the U.S. men had swum nine events, won them all, and set world records in eight. John Naber, 20, the 6-ft. 6-in. paddlewheel of the American contingent, had won three golds and a silver (and possibly one more gold ahead). With his red, white and blue knit cap cocked rakishly on his head, his gawky arms nailing greetings to the crowd and a slack-jawed grin permanently fixed on his rubbery face, he also won the amused affection of a worldwide audience. "I don't want to play the role of a clown," said the psychology major from the University of Southern California. "But I like to involve the audience with me. I enjoy it."

What turned out to be the most enjoyable day of Naber's swimming career came within a split second of being the worst. On Monday he carelessly cruised through his morning heat in the 200-meter freestyle and wound up qualifying eighth, a risky .23 sec. away from elimination. That evening, in his long-anticipated 100-meter backstroke confrontation with East German Champion Roland Matthes, Naber stayed frozen to the starting block in what happily turned out to be a false start. At the real start he burst in front with his first three strokes, executed an explosive turn that nearly drowned the judges at poolside, and plunged home to smash Matthes' four-year-old record of 56.19 sec. by .7 sec. "That's about the end of my swimming career," said Matthes; but he has a lot of poolside time in his future. His doting fiancee, who carefully handed her engagement ring to a judge before each race, is Golden Girl Ender.

Naber, however, was far from through. After beating Matthes, he retreated to a training room, turned off all the lights and mentally raced the 200-meter freestyle. Less than an hour later he was racing it in reality. This time he left the starting block punctually, but at the finish was .2 sec. off U.S.C. Teammate Bruce Furniss's world-record performance of 1:50.3. And Naber, too, had broken the record, by .2 sec.