The question in swimming was not how many medals the U.S. would win but how many it would lose. In Tokyo's Olympic pool, the dreams of other aquatic nations dissolved in the foam churned up by 49 crew-cut boys and pink-cheeked girls who averaged 18 years of age, fretted like all adolescents about acne and frecklesand swam as if sharks were snapping at their toes.
The very first American in the pool, California's Gary Ilman, shattered the Olympic record for 100 meters; before he could even write home about it, all sorts of people were beating the mark, tooand Gary found himself...