Sexy lady

Swimming World and Junior Swimmer, Sep 2000 by Christiansen, Ann Lindner

Not only is Sweden's Therese Alshammar considered "the sexiest woman in Sweden," but she is also just as hot in the water as she sets her sights on Sydney.

When you're selected "the sexiest woman in Sweden"-in a country known for its beautiful women-what more could you possibly want?

How about an Olympic gold medal? For Therese Alshammar, that's a realistic possibility. Fresh off a quadruple gold medal performance at the European Championships in July, Therese is staking her claim as a potential gold medalist at Sydney in the 50 and 100 meter free.

Swimming unrested, she won both events at the Europeans in Helsinki with national record times of 24.44 and 54.41, ranking her second in the world in the 50 (with the second fastest performance in history) and fourth in the 100. She also swam on Sweden's victorious 400 medley and 400 freestyle relays, setting a national mark in the 100 back of 1:02.42 in leading off the medley relay.

"Seeing Therese swim is a delight," claims her German coach, Dirk Lange. "There are few swimmers who master the poetry of body and water, human and dolphin, as gracefully as she does."

As graceful and beautiful as she appears in the pool, the staff of the prestigious Cafe Magazine in Sweden also felt Therese was just as stunning out of the pool. In 1998, the magazine selected her "the sexiest woman in Sweden,' stating, "Her radiance is powerful, confident, yet feminine."

It seems this just-turned 23-yearold has everything going for her-just at the right time. At the ETNA World Short Course Championships at Athens, Greece last March, she won four gold medals (two individual, two relay) and set world records in both the 50 and 100 meter freestyles with times of 23.59 and 52.17, crushing Jenny Thompson in the 100.

But can she be as dominant in long course as she was in short course?

Therese just gazes intently with her crystal blue eyes, then simply answers, "Yes." After all, her goal now is very clear: "to see how fast I can go: ' And at the moment, Therese hopes that speed will translate into winning and setting world records.

"Now, with her added weight training, explosiveness and speed, the international swim scene will have to watch out for her,' says Lange.

Makings of a Champion

Perhaps it was only natural that Therese would someday become a champion. Her mom, Britt-Marie Smedh, also was a Swedish Olympian, finishing seventh in the 100 meter breaststroke at the Munich Games in 1972. Mom made sure that Therese learned how to swim as a toddler. In those early years, the Neptun Swim Club in Stockholm became Therese's and her two younger sisters' playground.

Therese actually began her swimming career as a backstroker. She won her first national title when she was 14. By the time she was 15-a couple of weeks before her 16th birthday-she made herself known among the international swimming community by finishing fourth in the 100 back at the 1993 European Championships in Sheffield, England, with a time of 1:03.39 (1:03.26p). And she finished fourth again two years later at the ECs in Vienna (1:03.12).

It wasn't until after the Atlanta Games, where she finished 16th in the 100 back, that she started to swim freestyle seriously.

"Nobody really ever taught me freestyle," says Therese. "I just learned by myself. With backstroke, I had help from Bengt Baron (Sweden's Olympic gold medalist in the 100 back at Moscow in 1980)."

Training for Sydney

Currently, Therese lives in Hamburg, Germany, where she is preparing for the Olympics in Sydney, which just happens to be the location of her "favorite pool in the world." For the previous two years, she trained in the States, swimming for the University of Nebraska. There she learned that if you want to be the best, you have to make a commitment to serious training.

Her years of endurance training have given her the base to progress into real sprint training. Running and other dryland exercises are part of her weekly schedule, as are specific exercises for starts and turns.

Coach Large provides lots of individual attention to his swimmers, including Alshammar, Germany's Sandra Volker and Britain's Mark Foster. He is very detailed and makes sure Therese knows what and why she is doing the things she is doing during workout. He feels that helps Therese keep alert and more aware of all of the different aspects of training that are needed for a swimmer of her caliber

Therese is certainly aware of her competition: "Jenny T, Inge deB, Dara T-I think they are all great worldclass swimmers. I don't know them personally, so I cannot say much about them. But can they be that much different from me?"

The world will discover one main difference come September-the one who'll win the gold.

All About Alshammar

Name: Therese Alshammar

Birthday: Aug. 26,1977

Height: 5-11

Weight:132 pounds

Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden

Parents: Krister and Britt-Marie

Boyfriend: She has no time for boyfriends. "Later," she says.

Spare Time: "I like to read books, eat Asian food, spend time with my friends and watch entertaining films."