Swimming has taken Michelle Griglione all over the world, has provided her a college education and, for the past 12 years, has been the vehicle on which she has ridden a wild roller coaster of competitive emotions.
Griglione, 26, has eight medals from world-class events and an attic full of other mementos from a career that began at the Y in Alexandria, Va., when she was 6.
"She finished sixth and got a pink ribbon, but she loved it because pink was her favorite color," Carolyn Griglione said of her only child's first race. "Everything is in boxes. You'd never know she swims."
That career likely will end either at this year's U.S. Olympic trials, which begin today and run through Tuesday in Indianapolis, or at the Olympics in Atlanta this summer.
Regardless of what happens, Griglione said it's nearly time to come out of the pool.
"In some respects, I feel sort of sad because it could be my last race," Griglione said last week. "But I also feel excited. Basically, I've had such a fantastic career, and I've done so many things."
But it is the one thing she hasn't done -- make an Olympic team -- that will follow Griglione into the pool for the 200-meter butterfly. Few have chased this dream for as long, and gotten as close, as Griglione.
It began in 1984 in Indianapolis. Griglione, then finishing her sophomore year at T.C. Williams High School, finished third in the 200 individual medley and fourth in the 400 IM at her first Olympic trials.
"It was very exciting," she recalled. "I was really surprised that I got that close at all."
In 1988, Griglione came to Austin, Texas, for the trials a more experienced and more confident swimmer. A junior-to-be at Stanford, Griglione finished third in the 200 butterfly and 400 IM, fourth in the 100 butterfly and 200 IM. "I was two-tenths of a second -- if that -- away in the 200 [butterfly]," said Griglione.
Then came 1992, again in Indianapolis. By this time, Griglione was back home, training under her former coach, Rick Curl. After graduating the year before with a degree in chemical engineering, she had contemplated the end of her career.
"But when I went back to Rick, my times had gotten faster and faster," she said.
But not quite fast enough.
Griglione finished fourth in both the 200 butterfly and the 200 IM.
Now, she is trying again, this time as the most decorated swimmer in U.S. history not to have made an Olympic team.
It is sort of the same as being called the best pro golfer never to have won a major, or the best college basketball coach never to have taken a team to a Final Four.
"When people say it, they mean it to be positive," said Griglione, who has won individual medals at the World Championships, Pan Am Games, Goodwill Games and Pan Pacific Championships. "It is something I would not like to be known for. But I'm proud of what I've done.
"For young kids coming up, it's a testimony that the Olympics are not everything, that you can get something out of swimming even if you don't make the Olympics. I had a friend ask me recently, 'If you're not swimming just to make the Olympics, why are you stopping now?' But there've been a lot of swimmers who made the Olympics who did nothing before and did nothing when they were there."
her swimming career was all there was to Griglione's story, it probably would be enough. But it is only part of who she is and who she'll be either this spring or, at the latest, this fall.
Regardless of whether she makes the Olympic team, regardless of how she fares if she is one of the two American women taken to Atlanta for the 200 butterfly, Griglione plans on being to be back at the University of Florida sometime this year.
There she will finish the last 1 1/2 years of her doctoral studies in chemical engineering. When she returned home to train last May, Griglione was working on a NASA-funded project that had been involved in one space shuttle flight -- Endeavor in 1994 -- and could be part of another later this year.
Griglione also wants to resume a more normal personal life, which includes a 2 1/2 -year relationship with Rob Baker. Though they went to high school together, they didn't start dating until after they bumped into each other in Gainesville. Baker is working on his master's in geology.
"Of course, we haven't been together too much," said Griglione. "But he's been very supportive."
Baker will be lending support in Indianapolis, along with Griglione's parents (her father, John, is a former All-America football player at Iowa State). -- lending her support. She certainly will need it. Though she has been ranked in the top
three in her event for the past two years, the two swimmers ahead of her, Whitney Phelps of Baltimore and Trina Jackson of Jacksonville, Fla., are both considered up-and-comers.
When she looks at Phelps and Jackson, Griglione not only sees the competition for Atlanta, but also a bit of herself during various stages of her long career. Phelps, 15, is the prodigy Griglione used to be. Jackson, 19, has the versatility that Griglione used to possess. They, too, are looking to make their first Olympic team.
"I hope they do well," said Griglione. "I think it's great for them."
Griglione's best time in the 200 butterfly came when she swam 2 minutes, 11.56 seconds to win last summer's U.S. nationals -- her 11th national title. Since last May, she has been training some 70,000 yards a week under Curl.
"The biggest thing is that she's incredibly determined," said Curl, whose club will be represented by eight swimmers at the trials, including two-time U.S. Male Swimmer of the Year Tom Dolan. "I don't think she's obsessed with it, as some people might think. There's a good balance in her life. She's doing it for the right reasons."
Said Griglione: "I couldn't have trained any better. No matter how it turns out, I can say I've done what I've needed. I can step on the blocks and say I'm ready."
Ready to make an Olympic team.
Ready to put an exclamation point, and some closure, on her career.
"I think if I had made it those other times, it would have been incredibly exciting," she said. "I'll be excited now. But it's different. Before, it was a matter of the Olympics. Now, it's more a personal thing."
GRIGLIONE"S TRIALS
Michelle Griglione of Alexandria, Va., will be making her fourth attempt at a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team. Griglione has narrowly missed in her three bids.
Year .... .... Site .... .... .... Event .... .... .... Finsh
1984 .... .... Indianapolis ...... 200 IM .... ... .... 3rd
..... .... ... ..... ...... ...... 400 IM .... .... ... 4th
1988 .... .... Austin, .... ...... 200 butterfly ... .. 3rd
..... .... ... Texas ...... ...... 400 IM .... .... ... 3rd
..... .... ... ..... ...... ...... 100 butterfly ...... 4th
..... .... ... ..... ...... ...... 200 IM .... .... ... 4th
1992 ..... ... Indianapolis ...... 200butterfly .... .. 4th
.... ..... ... ..... ..... ....... 200 IM ..... .... .. 4th
Career highlights
1985 Pan Pacific Champioships: Gold medal in 200-meter individual medly, silver in 400 IM, gold in 4x100 freestyle relay
1986 World Championships: Silver in 400-meter individual medley
4 1987 Pan Am Games: Silver in 200-meter butterfly
1989: At Pan Pacific Championships, bronze in 200-meter individual medley; NCAA 400 IM champion
1994 Goodwill Games: Gold in 200-meter butterfly.
1995 Pan Am Games: Silver in 200-meter butterfly
Pub Date: 3/06/96