BACKSTROKING HIS WAY TO AN AMERICAN DREAM KRAYZELBURG'S THREE GOLDS COMPLETED A LONG JOURNEY.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

``Vremo nakonetso prishlo'' was the single phrase Lenny Krayzelburg whispered into his father's ear that glorious day in September. ``The time has finally come.''

The time did come for Krayzelburg, a native of Ukraine swimming for the United States in the Sydney Games. The time to celebrate a gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke, the first of Krayzelburg's three Olympic golds, and more significantly, the time to reflect on his family's remarkable journey, a true American dream come to life.

Krayzelburg left Australia as one of America's greatest Olympic champions, with gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events and the 400 medley relay. Not bad for a man who first stepped foot on U.S. soil in 1989, when his family fled Ukraine for religious freedom, and who used to take 45-minute bus rides from his Studio City home to Santa Monica just to jump in a pool.

Krayzelburg, now 25, burst onto the international scene at USC after stints at Fairfax High, which did not have a swimming team, and Santa Monica College, where he played water polo. But his emergence as one of the stars of the Sydney Games was anything but a surprise. He was expected to win three gold medals and the only question seemed to be whether any broken world records would come as well.

Still, there were challengers: 17-year-old Aaron Peirsol of Irvine, who had pushed Krayzelburg over the past two years of international competition in the 200, and a pair of Australians, Matthew Welsh and Steve Theloke, in the 100. But Krayzelburg had set world records in both events in the same Sydney pool a year earlier and there was little reason for concern.

``It's the Olympic Games and you never know what can happen, what can go wrong,'' Krayzelburg said after winning the 100 in an Olympic-record time of 53.72 seconds, just ahead of Welsh (54.07). ``I had great competitors in the race. I was nervous that someone could actually be better than me.

``A lot of the pressure was to win it for my parents. That was the biggest thing.''

Lest one get the wrong idea, the Krayzelburgs should not be lumped together with tennis dad Richard Williams in the overzealous sports-parent category. Krayzelburg is deeply devoted to his parents, Oleg and Yelena, who risked everything to move to the United States so that Lenny and their daughter Marsha could enjoy the freedoms of America.

So with his parents watching in the stands and cheering him on in full- fledged Uncle Sam regalia, Krayzelburg lived his American dream, not once, but three times. Oleg and Yelena thought about heading home to California after the 100, but their son convinced them to stick around.

It was worth it. In the 200-backstroke final three days later, Krayzelburg swam to gold in 1 minute, 56.76 seconds to beat Peirsol's 1:57.35. That was followed by a gold medal and world record in the 400 medley relay.

``In our sport, you are judged (by) whether you win or lose the gold medal,'' Krayzelburg said. ``It doesn't matter what other accomplishments you have. I've finally achieved that and now it's pretty complete. There are going to be generations that are faster than us. By winning a gold medal, you are going into history books.''

That point was driven home just a couple months later. Introduced at halftime of the USC-Notre Dame football game in November, Krayzelburg received a standing ovation from a majority of the 80,000 fans in attendance at the Coliseum, making him the one thing on which both Trojans and Irish fans could agree that sunny afternoon.

The ovation was also a sign that even though swimming all but disappears from American sports fans' consciousness following the Olympics, Krayzelburg's heroics will not soon be forgotten.

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Photo: Studio City's Lenny Krayzelburg won three gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events and the 400 medley relay in Sydney.

Doug Mills/Associated Press