FOR the past four years, almost from the moment he climbed from the Athens pool, a partially collapsed lung unable to stop him winning back-to-back 1500 metres freestyle gold medals, all the talk has been about history. Can Grant Hackett become the first male swimmer to win the same event at three successive Olympics?
The talk soon changed to the same "individual" event when it was discovered that American Matt Biondi won three successive golds in the 4x100m freestyle relay between 1984 and 1992, but history still beckoned as Biondi, Kieren Perkins and Alex Popov had all tried but failed to win the same individual race at three straight Games.
Hackett can do it, and may do it, but it may not be quite as historic as it could be if Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband has a say.
Van den Hoogenband has a habit of upsetting the Australian party. In Sydney in 2000, everyone was anticipating an Ian Thorpe victory in the 200m freestyle. Hoogie arrived and left with the gold. He also won gold in the blue ribbon event, the 100m freestyle in Sydney, and backed it up four years later by again winning the sprint in Athens.
So he too is shooting for three straight, and van den Hoogenband's gold medal will be decided on day six of the swimming competition, three days before Hackett's 1500m.
In the lead-up to Beijing, the focus in the 100m has been on Australian Eamon Sullivan, French world record holder Alain Bernard and American Jason Lezak. Hoogie's best time this year is almost a second slower than Bernard's best.
But the Dutchman is a racer. He knows all about this Olympic caper, he knows how to win, he's withdrawn from the 200m to focus on the 100m, and being "under the radar" would not be uncommon or disappointing.
"He's in very good shape, he needs to be because there are a lot of the competitors who are really fast," van den Hoogenband's coach Jacco Verhaeren said. "But I think there is a chance for him, and if there is a chance he will take it.
"The only reason [for dropping the 200m] is the program, because we start with the 4x100m relay and that's on the same day as the 200m freestyle and the final of the 200m freestyle is in the morning and then the heats of the 100m start [that night]. He's not so young any more so we needed to choose another option."
Australian head coach Alan Thompson warned that both van den Hoogenband and Italian world champion Filippo Magnini - who beat Sullivan and Bernard at an event in Rome in June - should not be dismissed as threats.
"I made that same comment about Magnini after that Rome meet. I don't think you can ever discount the people who you know can win, and certainly van den Hoogenband and Magnini are people you know can win," Thompson said.
"There was no talk at all about Magnini at that meet in Rome, and I think if you forget about people like them it would be a big mistake."