Berkoff's Final Blast-Off

Olympic gold medalist and Harvard swimmer David Berkoff is almost there.

Today at Blodgett Pool, the Harvard men's swimming team will begin to host the three-day 1989 Eastern Seaboard Swimming and Diving Championships. It marks the last time Berkoff will swim competitively at Blodgett.

He is almost there.

After becoming the first Harvard swimmer to win an NCAA swimming title since 1961 (Berkoff won the 100-yd. backstroke in 1987), after entering the international scene in 1988, after breaking the world record in the 100-meter backstroke, after winning a gold medal in Seoul, after setting an American record two weeks ago, Berkoff is almost there.

"For me, I've done everything that I have wanted to do," Berkoff said. "My career is over."

He is the only swimmer in the world to swim the 100-yd backstroke in less than 48 seconds (47.87) and the 100-meter backstroke in less than 55 seconds (54.51).

He is an innovator of the sport. For the past few years, Berkoff has made the pool his own. All because of a technique that has marveled the crowds in Seoul and has caused swimming's governing body to take action against it.

The "dolphin kick." The "submarine start." The "Berkoff blast-off."

That is why, people say, he is so fast. Berkoff leaps into the water. While other swimmers stay above the surface, he disappears.

Where'd he go, you ask? I can't see him.

Seconds pass. Berkoff rises out of the water. He is alone, racing uncontested. Three, two, one, blast off.

No, says swimming's international governing body. One week after the Olympics, a new rule was instituted for international competition, a rule which requires backstrokers to surface within 10 meters of the start of the race.

But Seoul is not Cambridge. And this weekend, the dolphin will be kicking for the last time at Blodgett.

"[Blodgett] is where I started," Berkoff said. "I feel like I'm not looked on with any high expectations."

Anyone who was at Harvard last fall remembers the day in September when Berkoff broke the world record in the preliminary round of the 100-meter backstroke.

We sat in front of televisions, watching Berkoff disappear, reappear and touch the final wall. The NBC graphics flashed the time: "54.51." A new world record.

We watched the finals. Japan's Daichi Suzuki, the Soviet Union's Igor Polanski and Berkoff. Suzuki and Polasnki burst off the blocks. Berkoff started out slow, but his underwater motions kept him close.

Suzuki won the race with a time of 55.05. Berkoff finished in at 55.18.

The gold came later in the 4x100 medley relay. Starting the first leg, Berkoff blasted off, and Suzuki and Polanski watched. They were never close. Berkoff recorded the fastest backstroke in relay history, 54.56. Teammates Rick Schroeder, Chris Jacobs and Matt Biondi closed out the final three legs.

Berkoff had his gold medal. We knocked over the television sets.

He has traveled around the world. He has trained to become the world's fastest backstroker in the 100 meters. All that is left is this weekend at Blodgett. And the NCAA Championships at Indianapolis on March 30-April 1.

He is almost there.

But first this weekend's Easterns.

"Dave to our team is like Larry Bird to the Celtics. When he's in the water, it gives the team an added dimension which strengthens it greatly," Harvard Coach Joe Bernal said. "At Princeton, he was able to race in events which aren't his best for the team's sake and he didn't complain about it at all."

"But the effect he has out of the water is even more important," Bernal added. "Dave creates an atmosphere on the team where everybody is an equal player."

Berkoff will have one more weekend at Harvard to create the atmosphere that his coach and teammates know so well.

But eventually, he will be there. Away from the world of swimming. The world he captivated.

It will soon be over for Berkoff. Except for all his memories.