Dlan began swimming at age 5，because his older sister Kathleen was a swimmer.“Whatever she did，I wanted to beat her，”he says.While he says he was a “pool rat”as a child，he didn't aggressively2） pursue swimming until his freshman year in high school.Golf was his favorite sport then ――he played f or his high school team until his junior yea r.

　　Dolan grew up in Arlington，Virginia，and his early development as a swimmer was under the guidance of Rick Curl.At the University of Michigan，he trained under head coach Jon Urbanchek，who helped mold3） Dolan into an Olympic champion.During breaks from school，Dolan would reunite with Curl，and in the lead－up to Sydney，he has returned home full time.In April 2000，Dolan told the Detroit Free Press，“My whole career I had gone back and forth4），but now I'm spending the whole year with Rick.But where I go and swim，I'll always be linked to Michigan and to Jon，just as I will to Rick.”

　　Dolan was 18when he entered the 1994World Championships.He remembers being near to all the big stars and noticing they were staring at him.He won the 400IM title in world record time.He successfully defended hid world title four years later in Perth，Australia.

　　Dealing with asthma5） and poor air quality，Tom Dolan could barely breathe at the 1996Atlanta Games.But as the reigning World Champion and world record－holder in the 400－meter individual medley，he was determined to win Olympic gold，“My legs were burning pretty bad，and I couldn't get any oxygen.I knew it was between me and Eric，and I just gave it everything I had coming into the wall，”says Dolan.He touched first，just ahead of fellow－American Eric，who got the silver.