By Paul Daugherty
Enquirer staff writer

ATHENS - Maybe they'll get early dismissal, at least.

The principal at Mount Notre Dame High promised his students a day off if the American women's synchronized swimming team won a gold medal Friday night. The ladies got the bronze. It could be time for the head man to bend the rules.

Becky Jasontek, MND '93, was among the eight U.S. women winning bronze. It was icing on the cake of her lately storied and improbable life. "It's all a chance," Jasontek said Friday. "You never know what's going to happen in life."

It has been written before, but the story is so good and hopeful, it bears repeating: Jasontek ruptured an ovarian cyst in 1999 and almost died. She rallied to be named the alternate on the U.S. Olympic synchro team in Sydney in 2000. She watched from the stands and decided then to postpone her retirement.

She worked four years for four minutes Friday night. It was the free portion of the event, following the technical portion Thursday night. The women swam to music from The Sorcerer's Apprentice. They did it well enough to finish third, behind Russia and Japan.

"After I had my surgery in '99, I didn't know if I was going to live. God gave me a second chance, and I did what I could with it and I'm here today," Jasontek said.

The competition came with a twist of weirdness. Seventeen seconds into the Russians' program, their music stopped. They had to get out of the pool and wait for several minutes, shivering, while their music was fixed. It flustered them so badly, they rallied to score 10s across the board for artistic impression.

"Stuff like that never happens," Jasontek said. "We were in the ready room, watching it on TV. We didn't know when we'd be going or what was happening.We just kind of shook it off."

The run of 10s effectively eliminated any chance the U.S. team had of doing better than bronze. Not that it mattered to Jasontek.

"There are so many things going through my head right now. I'm happy with the swim we just did. I'm sad I'm going to leave these girls I've been training with for four years. I want to see my family. I'm really proud of this swim," she said.

She will begin planning the honeymoon she and her husband have deferred for a year because of her training. Where might you go?

"Someplace warm," Jasontek said. "With a beach."

Water. Of course.