Anything less would not have been satisfactory. Nothing other than the gold medal would have pleased Michelle Smith de Bruin who, by her own admission, is now as strong as she was last year going into the Olympic Games in Atlanta. That in itself will strike further fear into her opponents here at the 22nd European Championships in Seville.

In her simply coded way she had us all primed, Irish, English, Germans, Dutch, Czechs and Russians for her first victory of the year - her first serious competition in over 12 months. She had led us to the altar of faith and asked us to believe in her ability to win major championship races. There were no dissenters. There was little doubt in the San Pablo Stadium that she could again win the 400 metre individual medley event, one that she dominated in Atlanta. She was as good as her word.

Having swum a relaxed race in the first heat of the morning session, where she came in behind Hana Cerna from the Czech Republic, Smith de Bruin had given us little indication of her full-throttle form.

But the presence of what transpired to be her nearest rival, a young Ukrainian girl, Yana Klochkova, who celebrated her 15th birthday less than two weeks ago, was a cause of mild concern for the Olympic champion. A new kid on the block. A new danger.

Klochkova had recently swum the fastest time in the world, 4:43.79, when she won the European junior championships for the event two weeks ago in Glasgow.

Smith de Bruin had no official time for the distance registered this year and while she knew of Klochkova, the Ukrainian knew only of the Irish girl's reputation from the Olympic Games.

The race itself went perfectly to form. Smith de Bruin went out and touched the 50-metre mark ahead in the first, butterfly leg of the race.

Her 100 metre time of 1:02.47 took her into the second, backstroke, phase of the event still ahead, allowing her to lead into the 200-metre turn, when the breaststroke, her weakest event kicked in.

It was over the two lengths of this stroke that her opponents would have seen the gap close between themselves and the leader. That's the way it was at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Centre in Atlanta. And so it was again yesterday.

Klochkova inched up in lane four and touched the 250-metre mark before her more-experienced rival. The teenager then extended that lead until the final 100 metres, when the freestyle came into play. Once more the formula was applied by Smith de Bruin, and like an `A' stream science student, the equation again began to balance out. Smith de Bruin's strength in the final freestyle leg hauled Klochkova back and although the youngster led at the final turn, Smith de Bruin was again, with her residual strength and technique, able to cut away at the leader's advantage to power her way to the gold medal, her third over two European Championships, her fourth medal in all.

Irish coach, Ger Doyle was upbeat afterwards. "Michelle's swim was simply outstanding. From up there in the stands where I watched the race it looked like Michelle was playing with them. After turning at the breaststroke I thought she had it. I really felt she had a faster time but I would say she was saving herself for the other events later in the week. She was making a point to the other swimmers to say `I'm here'.

"I have to be honest and say that I find it hard not to see her getting five medals, not five gold medals maybe, but she'll get faster throughout the week as her last long course swim was some time earlier in the year. It has lifted the whole morale of the team and made my job easier. It helps the others on the team to get in and really try to do what they have come here to do."

Four other members of the Irish squad were also in competition yesterday morning, with three of them attaining personal bests, but none advancing to either an A or B final.

Michael Giles had a strong swim in the 100 metre breaststroke, swimming 1:04.83 to register a new personal best. The Coolmine swimmer is still half a second outside Gary O'Toole's Irish record but died a little towards the end. Giles finished up 25th of the 30 participants.

The two O'Connor brothers from New Ross, Adrian and Hugh, raced each other in the four-man heat of the 200 metre freestyle and both returned personal best times in what is not their strongest event. Elder brother Adrian paced himself better than his less-experienced sibling to swim 1:56.42, almost two seconds faster than Hugh's 1:58.48.

Adrian and his brother ended up at the bottom of the rankings, in 24th and 25th place respectively. Their main events, in the backstroke, are still to come tomorrow and on Saturday and it is expected that they will do better in these events.

Trojan's Chantal Gibney was some way off her best when she finished the women's 100 metre freestyle in 59.61, over half a second slower than her Irish junior record. In her first major championships, Gibney was the first to swim on the day - not, according to Doyle, the best time for a debutante's big swim. Her final placing was 34th of 37. Today Smith de Bruin and 16year-old Gibney swim in the 200 metre freestyle. Colin Lowth and Paul MacCarthy swim in their first event, the 100 metre butterfly.