Missing Medal Is a Relay Big Deal to Swimmer

In 13 years on the world scene as a swimming champion, Jenny Thompson has won five Olympic gold medals, 23 Pan Pacific gold medals and has set world records in both the butterfly and freestyle.

However, there is one thing missing in her resume, one missing link she is determined to fill next month at Sydney.

“I still don’t have an individual Olympic gold medal,” she said. All her five came in relays.

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Trivia time: Who won the first Formula One race held in the United States? (Be careful, it’s a tricky one.)

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Home husband: Pete Sampras talks about his fiancee, actress Bridgette Wilson, in the September issue of In Style.

“One thing I love about Bridgette is that she is very attractive, but she doesn’t walk around like she is,” the tennis champion said. “You see arrogance all the time, especially in L.A., and she’s just very humble. I’m looking forward to being home with the kids when she’s out working. We joke that I’ll be Mr. Mom.”

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What’s in a name? Elizabeth Wrigley-Field was born in Los Angeles and lives in New York, but the 17-year-old thinks Chicago. She can’t help it. Her name is a constant reminder.

Wrigley-Field has never been to Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs, but says she may visit there later this year.

“I don’t really follow baseball, but when I’m near a baseball paraphernalia store, I go in and look for Cubs things.”

Her favorite is a deck of Wrigley Field playing cards.

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Second stinks: Drag racer Joe Amato has a different way of saying that winning is everything:

“I’m not wearing a fireproof suit and sitting in front of a keg of nitro fuel just to say, ‘Oh boy, second place.’ ”

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Nostalgia: Three-time Indy car champion Bobby Rahal had never regretted retiring in 1998 until he returned to Road America, the picturesque four-mile road course in middle Wisconsin where he visited as a child in the 1950s to watch his dad race.

“I was standing on the pit wall, watching the champ cars going over 200 on the front straightaway,” he said. “It was the first time since I retired that it made me want to get back in a champ car again. It was electrifying to me.”

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Just win, baby: Columnist Woody Paige of the Denver Post puts it on the line for the Denver Broncos in the upcoming NFL season:

“Mediocrity by this franchise is unacceptable. First place in the division and a loss in the playoffs will be a mediocre season.”

Got that, Mike Shanahan?

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Trivia answer: Johnnie Parsons, in 1950 at Indianapolis. From 1950 to 1960 the Indy 500 was part of the Formula One schedule.

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And finally: Barry Sanders, who walked away from the Detroit Lions and a great career in the NFL, believes Tiger Woods may someday do a similar thing.

“You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if Tiger were to leave the same way I did,” Sanders told the Detroit Free Press. “Gets up one day, believes he’s accomplished everything he set out to do and just moves on to the next phase of his life.”