SYDNEY – He was 15 and the balancing act had become too difficult. So Lenny Krayzelburg told his parents he was quitting swimming.

It was just too hard to juggle a new language, a new way of life, high school and a job as a lifeguard to find the time and the energy to continue training as a swimmer. So at the kitchen table of the family’s West Hollywood home, Krayzelburg announced his intentions. His father, Oleg, convinced his son that “you have to continue to do this.”

That scene was what stuck with Yelena Krayzelburg yesterday when her only son fulfilled the lifelong vision of his father by winning a gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke.

Krayzelburg also used the occasion to remember. During the playing of the American national anthem, he scanned his life. Being signaled out for his potential to swim in the Soviet elite sports program; moving to the United States because his parents wanted to escape the Anti-Semitism in the Ukraine and forge a better life for their children; mulling giving up the sport; and finally being able to renew full-time dedication to his craft.

“Here I was,” he said of when his daydream and the national anthem ended, “holding a gold medal on the stand.”

Sandwiched in Lane 4 by Australians on both sides, Krayzelburg powered to the front from the outset and held off Aussie Matthew Welsh in an Olympic record of 53.72 seconds. He was 12 hundredths of a second off the world record he set in this pool a year ago. He still has the 200 backstroke and medley relay to come, which positions him strongly for three gold medals.

All of this merely justifies his father’s faith. Oleg encouraged his son to swim in Odessa and begged him not to give it up when times got tough in America. He saw swimming and American freedoms as the keys to his son’s future.

Krayzelburg has said over and over how he owes his success to the sacrifices of his parents. As part of his contract with a swimwear company, Krayzelburg assured that his parents would be brought to Sydney. So they were on hand today. Yelena wore a plastic stars-and-stripes hat. Oleg stayed more reserve, 11 years in America still not making him comfortable enough to speak English. His daughter Marsha served as a translator. But the words were clear in what this accomplishment meant.

“I feel,” he said of his son’s victory, “like I was born once again.”