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August 19, 2004 12:01 pm

Lindquist bids for women's triathlon medal

By MIKE PRATER

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - Barb Lindquist showed up in Athens on Thursday and declared herself safe from trouble at the Summer Olympics.

Not from security issues, but from sharks.

The women's triathlon is Wednesday in the coastal municipality of Vouliagmeni, and it starts with a 0.9-mile swim in the choppy waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The Olympic course also includes a 24.8-mile bike ride and a .62-mile run.

The question of shark safety came up during an afternoon press conference. Hunter Kemper, who competes in the men's triathlon on Thursday, liked his safety plan in the water.

``The people who have to worry about it the most would be Barb and Andy (Potts), being that swimming is their strength and they're usually off the front. So they're kind of by themselves,'' Kemper said. ``I was told to swim in packs and to kind of stay in groups, so I kind of slow my swim down a little bit for that sole reason.''

He was joking.

Lindquist, who lives and trains on the Idaho-Wyoming border, threw it right back at him.

``But the way I think of it is, I'm off in the front and whatever's down there goes `oh.' And then the big pack goes by and they go, ``ooohhh,'' she said.

Then the issues turned serious as Lindquist goes for the first U.S. medal in triathlon. This is only the second time the event has been held in the Olympics, and the Americans didn't land any podium finishes in Sydney.

Lindquist is a strong medal contender - the former Stanford swimmer has been ranked No. 1 in the world for more than a year.

Lindquist, 35, is a two-time national champion who won $250,000 at the Life Time Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis last year. At the time, it was the richest payday in U.S. triathlon history. She is a former member of the U.S. national swim team and a four-time medallist at the Pan Am Games. She swam at Stanford with former Olympians Summer Sanders and Janet Evans, and won an NCAA team championship with the Cardinal in 1989.

She qualified for Athens by finishing as the top American - second overall - at the Race to Athens in Honolulu on April 18.

Lindquist, who was born in Wilmington, Del., before the family moved to New Jersey, has been No. 1 in the world since March 2003.

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