Sports of The Times;Evans Seeks A Career as Landlubber

JANET EVANS was eating lunch alone at the Olympic Village the other day. This happens when you get to be a senior citizen of 24 and realize it's all right to sit in a corner by yourself once in a while.

She heard athletes at nearby tables chattering in languages she did not even recognize, the delightful tower of Babel of every Summer Games, and she said to herself: "This is really cool. I'll never do this again."

She sees her Olympic life passing before her eyes. Everything she does, she does for the last time. She is the only American female swimmer to win four gold medals at the Summer Games, but now it's nearly over.

Janet Evans does not even contemplate swimming for pleasure, not after "10 years in cold water, looking at a black line."

Why else would the grand old lady of American swimming stay out of the pool? "So I can get into a sun dress," Evans said, adding that her shoulders and upper arms are so thick from a lifetime of swimming that it would take a year before she could fit into regular sizes.

Any other reasons for wanting to stop swimming? "Sleeping in," Evans said. "And not smelling of chlorine." But wouldn't she be tempted to plop into a pool and swim a few laps? "Oh, maybe in 10 years," she amended.