Fortunately for Aaron Peirsol, his arms and legs are far more effective than his eyes.
Squinting as he looked at the scoreboard at the Olympic Aquatic Center, Peirsol–who leaves his contact lenses out when he swims–was able to ascertain that he was the best swimmer in the 100-meter backstroke.
“I think I looked about three times before I was sure it was me,” he said. “I’ve made that mistake before.”
Peirsol’s victorious time of 54.06 seconds marked the second gold medal for the U.S. team Monday night.
Natalie Coughlin won the women’s 100-meter backstroke, finishing in 1 minute 0.37 seconds. Although Coughlin has broken the 1-minute mark in other competitions, Olympic gold certainly buries any disappointments over the time.
“I’m relieved to have it done with and get the gold,” said Coughlin, who won a silver medal as part of the 400 freestyle relay Saturday. “There’s a lot of pressure on me, especially in that event. There’s relief to have it behind me.”
Katie Hoff, Phelps’ teammate with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, was able to shake off a bad case of nerves when she failed to qualify for the 400 individual medley by qualifying for Tuesday night’s final in the 200 individual medley. She won her semifinal heat with the third-best time overall behind favorites Yana Klochkova of Ukraine, the defending champion, and Amanda Beard of the U.S.
“I’m just happy because I got over my disappointment and now I’m in my first Olympic finals,” Hoff said. “I think I was dealing with some nerves, it being my first race. I really don’t have an explanation for it, but I kind of moved on.”