SHARING THE WEALTH ERVIN, HALL DEAD HEAT IN 50-METER FREESTYLE.

Byline: Karen Crouse Staff Writer

SYDNEY, Australia - The first thing Mike Bottom noticed about Anthony Ervin's swimming when he started coaching him at California was not how much water he displaced with every armstroke, it was not his whippet kick. It was his start.

It was terrible.

``He had the worst start of anybody I had ever coached,'' Bottom said, laughing at the memory. ``He worked so hard on getting that start down.''

Let the record show there was nothing wrong with Ervin's start in the 50-meter freestyle Friday at the Olympics.

Ervin, a Hart High graduate, had the fastest reaction time in a field that included history's greatest sprinter (Alex Popov), the breakout star of these Games (Pieter van den Hoogenband) and America's reigning sprint champion (Gary Hall Jr.).

The Olympic annals will show Ervin's finish also was fabulous: He ended up in a dead heat with Hall, his training partner this summer in Phoenix, for the gold medal. It was the first time two swimmers have stood shoulder to shoulder atop the victory podium at the Olympics since Americans Carrie Steinseifer and Nancy Hogshead tied for first in the 100 freestyle in 1984.

Ervin, whose father is three-quarters African-American, became the first U.S. swimmer of African-American descent to win a gold medal. He and Hall, whose career (and life) was derailed briefly by diabetes, were timed in 21.98. Van den Hoogenband was third.

Hall, 25, doesn't mind if people peg him ``the diabetes dude.'' He is comfortable using his athletic forum to educate people about the disease. Ervin, the more introverted of the two, would prefer not to be pigeonholed.

When questioned about the historical and sociological significance of his swim, Ervin said, ``I've always been proud of my heritage. It's kind of cool. But I don't really think about it in respect to being the first of this, the first of that.

``People are trying to pin me down (on his ancestry) when it's never been an issue for me. In America today I would think having diverse blood would be no big deal.''

Beating Popov, who faded to sixth, was a major accomplishment. The 28-year-old Russian was bidding to become the first male swimmer to win back-to-back-to-back Olympic titles. His time of 22.24 was .60 seconds slower than the world record he set in June. That's a veritable eternity in the sprint.

Then again, Popov is old enough to be married and awaiting the birth any day of his and wife Darya's second child. Ervin is young enough to have a nickname (Tone Loc) that reflects his love of rap.

It was another mesmerizing night of finals at the International Aquatic Centre as Brooke Bennett of the U.S. swam the third-fastest time in history in the 800 freestyle (8:19.67) to set an Olympic record and successfully defend her Olympic title. And Sweden's Lars Froelander touched out Australians Michael Klim and Geoff Huegill in the 100 butterfly.

But the 50 freestyle was the race that had the crowd of 17,500 abuzz. Suffice it to say Ervin and Hall, who won a bronze medal in the 100 freestyle earlier in the week, rebounded nicely from last Saturday's disappointment at being part of the first U.S. 400-meter freestyle relay team to lose an Olympic final.

``Definitely,'' Ervin said. ``The 50 was my place to shine and thankfully I did.''

It was a stunning breakthrough for someone who wasn't a familiar racer on the national scene, much less internationally, a year ago. Throughout high school, Ervin maintained a low national profile.

He competed in only a handful of United States Swimming-sanctioned meets, preferring instead to carve out a distinguished high school career that culminated with two CIF titles in 1999.

Last summer, Ervin traded in his swimsuit last summer for a suit and worked the register in the clothing section of a department store near his family's Valencia home. He resumed swimming when he enrolled at Cal in the fall. He thrived in the competitive environment and responded immediately to Bottom's cross-training regimen.

In March, Ervin won NCAA titles in the 50 and 100 freestyles and was amazed.

Then he finished fifth in the 100 freestyle and second in the 50 freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Trials in August and was astonished.

Becoming an Olympic champion in swimming's glamour event at the tender age of 19 - the average age of the other seven finalists was 25.4 years - left Ervin grasping for adjectives.

``I'd have to say when I started out this year I wasn't expecting anything remotely close to what I've accomplished,'' Ervin said. ``I don't even know what to think. I don't think there have been many people who have done so much in so little time.''

Hall has been a fixture on the international scene since 1994. But this Olympics has been as fresh for Hall as for Ervin. The reason? It is the first Games in which Hall has competed as a diabetic.

G'day from Australia

Only at the Olympics can a swimmer whose times wouldn't be competitive at a recreational-league meet grab headlines from a world-record holder. It happened at the International Aquatic Centre on Friday when Paula Barila Bolopa of Equatorial Guinea covered the 50-meter freestyle in 1-minute, .03.97 seconds.

Never mind that Dutchwoman Inge de Bruijn broke her world record in thesemifinals of the one-lap sprint with a 24.13. The first story about a non-Australian swimmer in today's Daily Telegraph appeared on page 15 and carried the headline ``Paula the Porpoise crawls into stardom.''

I had to delve 25 pages deeper into the tabloid to find a story on the gold-medal tie between Gary Hall Jr. and Valencia's Anthony Ervin in the50-meter freestyle. Twenty-eight pages later, I stumbled upon coverage of de Bruijn's astonishing swim.

The spirit of these Olympics - as personified by Paula - had upstaged their female star.

Catch ya' later,

Karen Crouse

CAPTION(S):

photo, 4 boxes

Photo:

(color) Anthony Ervin and Gary Hall show their gold medals after their dead-heat finish in the 50-meter freestyle.

Eric Draper/Associated Press

Box: (1) MEDAL LEADERS

(2) TODAY'S MAIN EVENTS

(3) TODAY ON TV

(4) G'day from Australia (See text)