BENNETT IS GOLDEN; EVANS IS RETIRED.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

The brief embrace was eight years in the making.

In 1988, when Janet Evans was winning three gold medals and rewriting the distance swimming record book, Brooke Bennett was hanging a poster of Evans on her wall.

But Thursday night, in the final race of Evans' brilliant career, Bennett trounced her former idol and the rest of the 800 meter field to capture the first gold medal of her young career. A career, she hopes, will unravel much the way Evans' did.

``Janet will always be the queen of distance swimming, and hopefully I've moved up,'' Bennett said. ``I've only started, but even now that she's gone Janet is the queen. She has the world records and the gold medals and the national titles.

``Maybe one day I'll have just as many gold medals and world records.''

Despite the occasion of her final race, Evans claimed no unusual jitters, no ``this is my last 800'' tears. Fading after the fourth turn and never challenging the leaders, she simply couldn't swim any faster.

It typified her week in the pool. She failed to qualify for the 400 meter finals, finished sixth in the 800 prelims and sixth in Thursday night's finals - a full 11 seconds behind Bennett.

Instead, she made headlines outside the pool - handing the Torch to Muhammad Ali at the Opening Ceremony, and becoming, through no fault of her own, intertwined with controversial three-time gold medal winner Michelle Smith, of Ireland.

``I wouldn't give this up for the world. It has been my favorite Olympics so far,'' she said. ``It's weird after winning the gold medals that this year I've learned what the Olympics are about. I've had a true Olympic experience, had my highs and my lows.''

The post-race embrace aside, Evans and Bennett are not close. Evans believes Bennett has not shown proper respect for a four-time gold medalist. Bennett, who is 16 and has two years of high school remaining, wonders why so many were making such a fuss about a college graduate whose best years were long gone.

However, just as Evans was 11 seconds behind Bennett (8:27.89), so to was Bennett 11 seconds behind Evans' seemingly unbreakable world record (8:16.22) - a mark that stands among the greatest in sport. Since being set in 1989, no one has come within 10 seconds of it. That's one-third of a pool length.

``My next (goal) is to see if I can break that record,'' Bennett said.

Bennett dedicated the gold to her maternal grandfather, James Lane, who first put her in water. He died on May 7, shortly after she turned 16.

``He was always at my age-group meets. He was always so happy that it was his idea to get me into swimming,'' Bennett said. ``The easiest thing would have been to stop (swimming) for a while and let things take their course. But I couldn't do that. The next day I was back in the water training, because I knew that's what he wanted.''

Bennett's post-race comments are a final ode to the ``queen'' as the brash Bennett leaves her in the rear-view mirror. While Evans plans to find a job and spend time with friends, Bennett will skydive, get a tattoo (of the Olympic Rings) and begin training for Sydney in 2000.

``Janet is hanging her suits up, and I'm dedicating myself to four more years,'' she said.

Evans, a Pasadena resident and USC volunteer coach, will search for a job, perhaps as a broadcaster. She wrote a paper for a USC communications class about the trouble athletes have adjusting to society once their playing careers conclude.

``I think I'll do pretty well,'' she said.

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Photo: Janet Evans, right, and Brooke Bennett embrace in th e pool after Bennett's gold-medal performance in the 800 meters.

Julian H. Gonzalez / Detroit Free Press