My favorite swimmer is Gary Hall Jr. He comes from swimming heritage. His father, Gary Hall Sr., participated in the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympics. He was the USA flag bearer in '76.
To date, Gary Hall Jr. has participated in only one Olympics, the 1996 Atlanta games. He did pretty well. He won a gold medal for swimming the freestyle anchor leg of the 400 meter medley relay, setting a world record. He also won a silver medal in the 400 meter freestyle relay, setting an Olympic record. In addition to this he won silver medals for the 50 meter freestyle and the 100 meter freestyle. The gold for both of those events went to his rival, Aleksander Popov of Russia.
 I like Gary Hall Jr. for more reasons than his Olympic gold. First and foremost, I like him because he doesn't take himself and his sport too seriously. He actually gets criticized for not working out as hard as his fellow Olympians. I say more power to him. If he's winning medals and setting records, he must be doing something right. He's also very much an average joe. He plays guitar, listens to Grateful Dead, and drives around in a Volkswagen Type 2 (more commonly known as a "Microbus").
 What drives this all home for me is the fact that he's been suspended for testing positive for marijuana. I personally think that's great. I'm all for banning performance-enhancing drugs from the sports world, but who gives a flying fig if someone wants to smoke a joint now and then??? I felt the same way when Ross Rebagliati initially had his 1996 snowboarding Gold Medal revoked. I was ecstatic when it was eventually returned to him. If they're going to ban pot then I think they should ban nicotine and alcohol, too. Anything less would be hypocrisy. Gary Hall Jr. is all the more appealing to me because he's a fun-loving, VW-driving Deadhead who (allegedly) likes to catch a buzz from time to time, and still has the talent, skill, and dedication to win Olympic Gold. If he was gay I'd be on the first plane to Pheonix with a dozen roses.
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