Sept. 14, 2000

Question: How is Australia so far?

Gary Hall Jr: Well, I have been here 5 times. I love Australia. My favorite places are Melbourne and the Great Barrier Reaf. I would love to get back there, but things are really busy right now. Things have been pretty uneventful. I haven't gone out much to see the city.

Gary Hall, Jr. prepares for his first event.(Allsport)

Question How is the Olympic village?

Gary Hall Jr: It is really nice. They did a fantastic job putting it together. There is quite a bit of space in the rooms. Everything is pretty new and very nice. We stay in a house that has five bedrooms and there are some that are in apartments with two to three rooms. I stay with some of the other swimmers on the Olympic team. They have a video arcade room and I am trying not to spend as much time in that room as I did in Atlanta in '96!

Question: Have you done any sightseeing?

Gary Hall Jr: There hasn't been a lot of time for that yet. I have been trying to get a lot of rest before the Games get started. There will be some time after swimming is done (it lasts the first week of the Games) to get out and see the city more. I am just enjoying the atmosphere right now. Maybe after the Olympics are done, I can come back and see some of my favorite places.

Question: Are you attending the opening ceremonies?

Gary Hall Jr: No. The opening ceremonies take around 5-6 hours and that is a lot of standing on your feet. I compete the very next day and that wouldn't be good for me to be standing for that long; it would take away from my performance.

Question: What is it like to hear the National Anthem played after winning?

Gary Hall Jr: It is a sense of pride. There was so much going through my mind at the time, that I just tried to take it all in. I wanted to be able to remember it for the rest of my life and so far so good.

Question: This is your second Olympics, are there any differences in the way you trained?

Gary Hall Jr: With training, I tried to so as much as I could. The routine is pretty consistent. Right now, I am just trying to get a lot of rest.

Gary Hall, Jr. releases some tension before the meet.(AP)

Question: How do you prepare for an event? Any superstitions? Are you going to do anything like you did at the trials where you showed-up in red, white and blue boxers while shadow boxing?

Gary Hall Jr: There are some rituals, but none of them include shadow-boxing. Nothing is really thought out or pre-meditated.

Question: You found out that you have diabetes last year, how did things change after finding out you had the disease.

Gary Hall Jr: My routine has changed some. It wasn't an easy adjustment, but it was something that was neccessary. I made the changes needed and tried to do my best to be consistent with those changes. I just realized that I had no choice in the matter. That makes it a lot easier, doing things properly; strict diet and exercise and there were some lifestyle changes. Avoiding complications is something worth doing. It wasn't easy to force myself to eat on a schedule and not miss a meal which I was accustomed to doing sometimes and I do miss some foods.

Question: You broke a decade-old American record in the 50-meter free with a time of 21.76 seconds, and your time was the second fastest in swim history. What was your reaction when you found out how fast you swam?