WHERE ARE THEY NOW? / John Naber / The spirit of '76 / Swimmer won five medals at Montreal Games

His shining moment came 25 years ago, in a pool in Montreal.

It was there, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, that John Naber's athletic career culminated. He was the most decorated athlete at those Games, winning four gold medals and a silver, and setting or helping set four world records --

two of which stood for seven years -- in the process.

When you ask him about his favorite sports memory, however, it's not that Olympic performance.

It goes back to Ladera Oaks Swim Club in Menlo Park, when he was a skinny kid swimmer whose fame was still far away.

"That was my favorite chapter in life," he said. "The social camaraderie that the athletes at Ladera Oaks shared with each other. I remember the day I walked into the pool after failing my driver's test and how everybody got on me. That's the environment I remember most.

"I even looked forward to going to workouts at 5:30 in the morning (and swimming 10 miles a day, six days a week for 11 months a year). Most people make swimming out to be a grueling sacrifice, but to me it was an absolute joy. "

Naber, who's now 45, was born in Illinois and reared in Europe until his parents moved to the Bay Area in 1967. It was here, at Woodside High School and Ladera Oaks, that his enormous skill in the water slowly developed.

"I was not much of a story even in swimming until my senior year in high school," he said. "That's when I set my first American record, at 17."

From there, he went on to a sterling career for coach Peter Daland at USC and then stepped onto the world stage in Canada.

Naber's last competitive race (besides some college alumni relays, in which,

because of his advancing age, he now gets a 20-plus-second head start) was in 1977.

"I still like to swim recreationally," he said, "but I use a rowing machine in my basement to get my heart going. In my mind, I'm going across the top of the water."

Naber and his wife, Carolyn, who live in Pasadena, will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary Aug. 28. And their 18-year-old daughter, Christina, will begin college at Pepperdine this fall.

Last year, Naber came out with a book, "Awaken the Olympian Within," that features essays by 27 prominent former Olympians, he is serving as president of the Olympic Alumni Association through the 2004 Athens Games, and is chairman of the sports division of Character Counts!, a Southern California non-profit organization that teaches character through sports.

A member of the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, Naber also has done a considerable amount of sports broadcasting over the years, but his main occupation has been (and is) as a motivational speaker, through his firm, John Naber Associates.

"I'm surprised I've been doing something like this for so long," he said. "Many people have paid to hear me, even though they were not alive to see me swim."

Then, maybe thinking back to all those hours and all those years he spent to achieve excellence in the pool, Naber pondered a question about what goals he has left, and did a little self motivation.

"I'd love to continue what I'm doing," he said, "but do it even better."