Alshammar
on water's
main stage
The stage at the 2000
Olympics couldn’t have set up
better for former _
Nebraska swim
mer Therese
Alshammar.
For one, it’s
right in the cen
ter. Thanks to the
great Chinese
Samuel
McKewon
swimming col
lapse - and the
corresponding
great American
triumph - that
splashed across television dur
ing the 1996 Olympics in
Atlanta.
Couple that with the
strength of the host nation
Australian team and those con
troversial new suits (which look
like a full body Capri pant), the
water is ground zero for viewers
starting Friday.
And the Swedish
Alshammar competes in the
centerpiece of 2000 swimming
and diving - the freestyle
sprints - which is stocked with
an all-star lineup. Six record
holders are in the 100-meter
free. The blink-and-you’ll
miss-it 50-free is similarly
stocked.
The United States’ Jenny
Thompson, a poster child from
the ’96 Games, is a factor in the
100. The media is sure to play
up fellow American competitor
and two-time gold-meal win
ner Dana Torres, competing in
her fourth Olympics, who will
race in both sprints.
And then there’s the record
holding favorite in both events,
Inga De Bruijn, the tall Dutch
diva bathed in gold paint for the
Sports Illustrated Olympic
Preview, on the newsstands last
week. Blink as many times as
you want. You won’t miss it.
Neither will you skip Si's
three-page spread on
Alshammar that follows a few
pages later. That would be her,
laying on something or other,
half clothed, half not, pro
nouncing her divine status with
a big black tat that screams
DIVA on her lower back. And
the shirt she sports in picture
three? About a square foot of
fabric, more or less.
The style has been part of
the Alshammar experience -
the revolving door of hair col
ors, the moon boots ensemble,
the chewing tobacco habit, the
day when she walked naked in
downtown Lincoln bathed in
silver paint. She certainly wasn’t
handed the title of “Sweden’s
Sexiest Woman” from a Swedish
men’s magazine in April 1998.
No, she earned it. Just ask her.
In terms of personal style,
Alshammar has no doubt. In an
interview with me about four
months after she won the sexi
est title, she offered up all kinds
of career futures: modeling,
fashion business, her own line
of stuff (her words, not mine).
But in the midst of the con
versation, a gold-medal possi
bility was brought up and
Alshammar acted the shrinking
violet. While everything else
seemed vibrant and focused,
she shied away from cocky pre
dictions for the pool.
"I won’t say I’m going to
come home with a gold medal,”
Alshammar said in an interview
in 1998. “Because then people
are going to say, ‘Oh, you only
came home with a bronze!’ And
that’s not bad at all.”
In November of 1998, she
was 22nd in the world in 50-free.
Keith Moore, NU sprints coach,
talked of her in-water speed in
awe-like terms, but criticized a
clunky start. Alshammar, com
peting the college-shortened
lengths of yards, which dimin
ished her in-water advantage,
never won a NCAA title.
“I knew the first time I saw
her, at just some Photo Day
swim, that she had the talent to
be this great,” Moore said
Sept.7.
“This great" would refer to
Alshammar’s status as the dark,
unknown horse in Olympics
whom SI picks to win both
races. That's based on the
notion her blistering victory
times at the European
Championships, which fellow
European De Bruijn did not
compefe in, will carry over to
Sydney. Alshammar has relo
cated to Hamburg, Germany,
and found a coach that
. Plea^ see ALSHAMMAR on11
Top-ranked Nebraska hooks Horns
■Tough second set is the only
speed bump in an otherwise
easy win over Texas.
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON
Had they not worn the clas
sic burnt orange long sleeves,
Texas could have been mistak
en for any other Big 12 sacrifi
cial lamb sent to the NU
Coliseum slaughter house.
NU looked every bit the new
No. 1 team in the land, upping
their record to 8-0, 1-0 in con
ference play, after a 15-4,17-15,
15-4 sweep of the Longhorns.
UT is off to their worst start
in school history with a 1-5
mark.
Nebraska was especially
dominant right out of the gate
in game one, causing Texas
Coach Jim Moore to use
superlatives such as “flawless”
and “perfect” to describe the
Cornhuskers’ play.
“In games one and three, it
was classic Nebraska volleyball:
serve tough and block tough,”
Nebraska Coach John Cook
said.
Sandwiched in between the
15-4 laughers was a 50-minute
second game tussle, in which
Texas fought back from 12-8
and 14-12 battles knotting it at
15.
Texas continually silenced
the 3,646 fans in attendance
with numerous side-outs
before Nebraska finally took
NEBRASKA 1517 15
TEXAS 4154
the game and momentum with
a 17-15 win.
"It seemed like everything
was going good for Texas,and
everything was going bad for
Nebraska,” Cook said of game
two. “It had some weird plays,
but that was a good game to
win.”
“We were pretty determined
out there tonight. We just got
passive in the second game,"
middle blocker Jenny Kropp
said. “They were gaining points
off of our mistakes.”
NU’s size kept the Horns
Please see WIN on 11
Scott McClurg/DN
Nebraska Senior Angie Oxley celebrates with her teammates after a kill against the
Texas Longhorns on Wednesday night at the Coliseum.The Huskers put down the
Longhorns in straight games, 15-4,17-15,15-4.
Photo Illustration by Mike Warren/DN
Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch pitches to l-back Correll Buckhalter on one of Nebraska's option plays. Nebraska is one of a few college football teams who are considered true option teams,
and one of the few who have enjoyed great success in recent years running the option attack.
FIVE NU PLAYS THAT PAVE THE WAY
BY DAVID DIEHL
The numbers explaining
Nebraska’s offensive domi
nance do not lie.
There are the irrefutable
facts such as the seven NCAA
offensive records Nebraska’s
offense holds today, the locker
chock-full of 11 rushing titles in
the past 19 years, and, of
course, the Sears Trophies
stacked up in the South
Stadium offices.
Those figures are almost as
undeniable as what one can
see on Husker Saturdays: The
Big Red Steamroller plowing
up, around and through trifling
defenses and the yardage totals
board subsequently spinning
out of control as if it were the
national debt board.
When that board hits 300
rushing yards, NU is 176-5
since 1973. When it tops 400,
the record’s an astronomical
89-0.
The talent that has put up
those convincing figures has
Triple option
) Opponents know
it's coming.
j Heck, the cheerleaders
| know it's coming.
But the triple option is un
stoppable because of the
[ options (and because of
Nebraska's offensive talent,
too, of course).The quarter
back can either hand off to
I the fullback, pitch to the I
| back or keep it himself.
made Nebraska’s offense the
standard in power football over
the last three decades.
Please see BUTTER on 11
*
RED HOT IN RED ZONE
BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND
The middle linebacker is huffing and puffing as
he enters the huddle - the direct result of having
been on the field for four minutes straight.
Nebraska's offense has just driven down the
field from its own 35-yard line, and the ball now
rests on the opponent’s 15.
The Husker’s quarterback, Eric Crouch, has led
his team close to the end zone with an assortment
of handoffs, pitches and play-action passes.
Crouch now finds himself in an area crucial to
the success of the Huskers - the red zone.
According to Husker center Dominic Raiola,
NU’s goal at this point is clear - despite the limit
ed room of a short field, the team wants seven
points.
“We want to score all of the time/' said Raiola.
“Whether it be a field goal, or preferably, a touch
down. We want to put points on the board.”
NU has yet to go the field-goal route in 2000,
thanks to near-perfect execution inside the oppo
nents’ 20-yard line.
The Huskers have scored a touchdown on each
of its seven attempts in its first two games of the
season.
Why has the offense been so successful in the
short field?
Please see RED ZONE on 11
u