Swimming: Hall believes a horse food diet is right track

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Flamboyant and fast American swimmer Gary Hall reckons he is on to a winner - swallowing the same feed as one of the world's best racehorses.

Hall swears by a nutritional supplement he shares with this year's Kentucky Derby winner, Fusaichi Pegasus. And it must be working.

Hall, who won four medals at the 1996 Olympics, shattered American sprint records at this week's US Olympic swim trials.

Before Olympic drugs officials start getting twitchy, Hall's coach Mike Bottom is adamant that the supplements - a mix of proteins, Omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals - are all legal.

Hall and some of his team-mates call them "horse bars" - but they have been adapted for the human stomach.

You would have to believe Hall would no longer risk illegal substances after being caught with them in the past.

A double silver medallist behind Russian juggernaut Alexander Popov at the last Olympics, Hall was suspended from competition in 1998 for testing positive to marijuana. It was his second violation in three years, and he missed the Goodwill Games.

These days, the only drug he lives on is insulin - taking eight injections a day after discovering he was a diabetic three years ago.

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