Veteran Richard back in the swim of things

Veteran Richard back in the swim of things

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Shortly after the 1997 Southeast
Asian (SEA) Games in Jakarta, Richard Sam Bera announced his
retirement to concentrate on his job as an assistant coach at
Arizona State University, his alma mater.

Two years later, his name was on back on the list of
Indonesia's contingent. Many eyebrows were raised over his
decision to return to the pool.

With a gold-medal performance at the current Games, Richard
has shown that the selectors were right and proved his doubters
wrong.

He retained his 100-meter freestyle in a record-breaking time
of 51.03 seconds on Monday, slicing 28 hundredths of a second off
the mark set by teammate Wisnu Wardhana in 1993.

"I feel great at being able to improve my best time. I have
been out of the pool for about one and a half years, and I only
started training for the Games in April. Apparently I'm still
good," he told reporters after the medal ceremony.

His winning time was well inside the Olympic Games qualifying
time of 52.30, and he has no reason to turn down another shot at
the world's largest sporting event to be held in Sydney next
year.

The 27-year-old bachelor has canceled his retirement plan with
his qualification for the 2000 Olympic Games.

"I plan to compete in the Olympics but it will be up to the
Indonesian Swimming Federation (PRSI) to send me to Sydney. So
far, I have received the green light from PRSI," he said.

Richard plans to train in Arizona with coach Michael Chasson
for the quadrennial event.

"It's better for me to return to the United States because my
coach has arranged a special training program for me," he said.

Richard made a winning debut at the SEA Games in 1989,
triumphing in his favorite 100m freestyle. He lost to Wisnu
Wardhana in 1993, but regained the crown in the next two
consecutive meets.

The golden boy also shone in the 50m freestyle event.

"I started to collect gold in the 50m freestyle in the 1995
SEA Games," he said, adding that his target was to beat the SEA
Games record of 23.27 seconds set by Singaporean Ang Peng Siong
in 1989.

"The record has stood for a decade and I want to break it," he
said enthusiastically.

The 1997 graduate of the School of Economy and Political
Science added: "I really got out of the pool when coaching the
students. I just gave them instructions from the side of the pool
and never went into the water." (ivy)