The freckled 15-year-old blonde gripped the starting block with her toes, inhaled deeply, and hit the water at the gun with long, smooth strokes. When she flashed home last week in 4:55.9 for the 400 meters, Chris von Saltza of Saratoga, Calif, had broken her U.S. record by 2.2 sec., neatly finished the job of turning Chicago's Pan-American Games into a one-girl swim. In all, Chris carried off five gold medals: she won the 100, 200 and 400 meters, was a member of the winning team in the 400-meter freestyle relay and the 400-meter medley. What was more, all of the...
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