SWIMMING : U.S. REALLY RATES HIGH IN RELAYS.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

Aside from the conclusion of the women's team gymnastics competition, the story of these Olympics so far has been the American swimmers. With 22 medals, including 10 golds, they have doubled the number of their closest competitor, Germany.

Half of those golds are in relay events, where the U.S. is batting 1.000 after the women's 800-meter freestyle relay team easily cruised to victory Thursday night.

``I think it shows the depth we have as a swimming nation: enough talent to qualify (in the morning) and have fresh people at night,'' said Jenny Thompson, who won the fifth relay gold of her career - tying her with Bonnie Blair for the most golds of any American female Olympian.

President Clinton, joined by Hillary and Chelsea, saw a historic evening at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center that included: Janet Evans' last race and Brooke Bennett's first gold; Russia's Aleksandr Popov defeating Gary Hall Jr. for the world's-fastest-man title, and Hungary's Krisztina Egerszegi becoming the most successful individual swimmer in Olympic history.

The depth of which Thompson spoke was evident in the 800 relay, as three members of the American's chief rival, Germany, competed in individual events and acknowledged fatigue during the relay.

``We were excited they had swims. That's just the way it goes,'' Thompson said. ``A lot of relays have one superstar. But we have a lot of depth, and the crowd has been intense and inspirational.''

The evening's marquee event featured the swimming world's best rivalry, Popov, the Russian Rocket, against Hall, the grandson of Charles Keating - yes, that Charles Keating.

Hall once joked that his training regimen required him to ``swim like a fish and drink like a fish.'' Popov, by contrast, is a tireless trainer who swims up to 90 kilometers per week, and that fitness allowed him to overcome lower-back pain and a slow start.

Hall bolted out of the blocks. They swam stroke for stroke for most of the distance, reminiscent of their brilliant 100-meter duel on Monday, which Popov also won. But in the late stages, Popov' powerful legs enabled him to extend for an impressive .13 victory margin.

``Especially in the 50, experience counts as such a huge part,'' Hall said. ``Alek has three years on me and that's a huge amount at the world-class level. I'll improve with time. . . . Where's he at right now, I'll be in 2000.''

If what Popov said is true - that one gold makes you famous, two makes you great and three makes you part of history - then he is one for the ages. It was his fourth individual gold medal and the second-straight Olympics he has accomplished the sprint double.

The mad dash that was the men's 50 meters gave way to the grace of Egerszegi, one of the greatest female swimmers in history.

Thursday night she added a 200-meter backstroke title to those she won in Seoul and Barcelona, becoming the first swimmer since Australia's Dawn Fraser (the 100 freestyle in 1956, '60 and '64) to win three straight gold medals in one event.

But that is not all about Egerszegi: She is the first swimmer in history (man or woman) to win five individual golds. (Mark Spitz had three relays golds out of his seven in 1972.)

``Krisztina's the best ever,'' said American Wendy Hedgepeth, who won the silver.

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Photo: From left, Cristina Teuscher, Jenny Thompson, TrinaJackson and Sheila Taormina celebrate after victory in the 800-meter relay.

Associated Press