He won't swim a stroke or even bring a Speedo, but he has the influence and the power to affect the outcome of any aquatic event.

Richardson is the chairman of the drug testing committee for the Federation Internationale Natacione Amateur (FINA), the organization that oversees swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming.

Any medal-winner caught using anabolic steroids or other banned performance-enhancing substances will find Richardson an uncompromising guardian of Olympic integrity.

Chairman of FINA drug testing for four years, Richardson has been a watchdog for the organization since 1980 and has no problem with lowering the boom again on any competitor or nation trying to skirt international rules of fair play.

"I think everyone is interested in having a level playing field," said the 49-year-old Richardson, a Honolulu arthroscopic surgeon married to two-time Olympic gold medalist (1964, 1968) Pokey Watson Richardson.

After each of the 32 men's and women's swimming events, he will have a U.S. Olympic Committee escort descend upon the top three finishers - and a fourth to be named at Richardson's discretion - and bring them directly to the testing area.

There will be no detours en route to the testing area and no exceptions.

The athletes' urine samples will be placed under guard and taken to the local testing lab in an armored truck.

Richardson already has proved he means business. He became suspicious when he saw the Chinese thoroughly dominate swimming in the 1994 world championships. At the Asian Games, his suspicions paid off as FINA caught 11 of the top 17 Chinese swimmers that tested positive. They were banned and will not be at this Olympics.

"We caught them off guard," he said.

Richardson will have a much heavier bat to wield this year in the battle against substance-abusing athletes. A tough new rule enacted by the U.S. Olympic Committee would place a ban of four years plus one Olympics on anyone caught using anabolic steroids in Atlanta.

Richardson said it was necessary to tack the Olympics onto the four-year ban because a 1996 abuser would have served out his or her four-year suspension by the start of the next Olympics, which will run from Sept. 16-Oct. 1, 2000, at Sydney, Australia.

Richardson said swimming is, by far, the water discipline most likely to yield violators. But he said that they occasionally pop up in diving, too. Divers have been known to use beta blockers, which slow the heart rate to about one beat every two seconds and allow the athlete to better time his or her jump.

Richardson said there have been about 800 tests done so far this year.

A graduate of Punahou and Yale, Richardson held the national high school record for the 100-yard breaststroke from 1963-65.

He and his wife have three children, and the family will be joining him at this Olympics. His 14-year-old son, Daniel, will be a water polo ball boy.

Age: 49
Hometown: Honolulu
Education: Punahou, Yale
Job: Chairman, FINA drug testing for aquatic sports
Olympic history: Fourth Olympics as member of FINA drug testing committee
Notable: Arthroscopic surgeon...
Former prep record holder for 100-yard breaststroke