Dear Janet:
You're fifty years old today? I don't know if you feel old - you're in such great shape, you probably don't - but I sure do.
Obviously, I remember you from the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, when you were just seventeen - you know what I mean (sorry, I couldn't resist a Beatles reference) - and you won three gold medals in the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle swimming races and set a record in the 400-meter individual medley race even as you held the world records in the former two events after having set them the year before. Alas, I only got to see one or two of those events on TV - I was canvassing for Michael Dukakis' ill-fated presidential campaign and spent a lot of time out of the house. I read about you more than actually seeing you. I had better luck with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when I caught your silver-medal swim in the 400-meter freestyle - I already talked about that on my blog a few years ago - but again, I missed your swim in the 800-meter freestyle race that got you your fourth gold medal. I was in Nantucket - not making this up, Janet - and I went with my father, aunt and uncle to a restaurant, one of those places so exclusive they only served one or two parties at a time. Ha ha, I think I made the wrong decision as to whether to go or stay back at the rental house. (And time spent in 1988 on a failed presidential campaign could have been spent watching more of you in Seoul.)
You were certainly a spunky, bubbly girl then, Janet, but then you arrived in Atlanta for the 1996 Games as a woman. Oh, my stars, I've had a crush on you ever since - but don't tell your husband! 😄 Oh, dear, what a series of highs and lows that must have been for you, from passing the Olympic torch to Muhammad Ali at the to witnessing Eric Rudolph's bomb going off in Centennial Olympic Park . . . and of course there were the swim races that didn't work out for you, especially the 400 free . . . what a mess. But in spite of everything, I was still able to see and appreciate more of your competition this time - even the preliminaries. I made sure that I wasn't going to miss your final race, though I was amazed how some people didn't consider it must-see TV. That evening, my sister asked me if I was going to watch the Olympics that night. "Oh, yes," I said, "I'm not going to miss the swimming coverage. Janet Evans is swimming in her last race."
"Who?" my sister asked.
And to think my sister - who's a year and a half older than you are - once thought about being an Olympic swimmer when she was a kid. She could have been your teammate.
But how about that last race, huh Janet? Fifteen thousand people in the stands cheering and calling out your name. And that's when the race was over. How many people even remember that Brooke Bennett and Dagmar Hase - two of your most notorious rivals - finished first and second, respectively, in that race? You won by losing.
So many years ago . . . and you're still my favorite distance swimmer. Yes, Katie Ledecky is the greatest female distance swimmer of all time now, and I certainly didn't miss any of her big Olympic races, but you have something she doesn't. That windmill stroke that propelled you across the pool. I sometime wonder if you took swimming lessons from Pete Townshend.
And yes, I know how much you love Katie Ledecky too.
I'm really happy that things have turned out so well for you, Janet. A wonderful husband and two beautiful children, a gig as chief athlete officer for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, a nice house by the ocean, a swim complex and an annual swimming event bearing your name . . . you deserve all of it. So go ahead and keep repeating your story about how you passed the Olympic torch to Ali on that night in July 1996 . . . I never get tired of hearing it.
On a more serious note, I'm sorry for the loss of your father to Lou Gehrig's disease. (I have to apologize for some of what I said in my previous open letters on this blog. I knew your father was originally from Pennsylvania, but I didn't know he came from the Philadelphia area, and here I've been telling all about what a great city it is when you already know that. And I still would have liked to see Philly host the Olympics - I guess that would have been your second choice after LA.) And I'm sorry you couldn't make a comeback for the 2012 London Olympics . . . but you still gave it your best.
I suppose you've seen my comments on your Instagram page; I hope you appreciate them. And I hope you appreciate the fact that I started a Facebook group page in your honor, which can be accessed here. You'd be surprised, Janet, to learn how many people are as interested in you as I am. And if you go to my YouTube channel, you'll find some of your old swimming races and interviews - some of which I saw for the first time before uploading them. But my biggest quest for videos of your historic swim races means unfulfilled.
I'm still trying to find clips of your victorious 800 free races in Seoul and Barcelona.
So have a happy birthday, Janet, and I hope you have many more. I can't say much more, except to suggest that you bear this John Lennon lyric in mind going forward - "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Sincerely and always a fan,
Steven Maginnis
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