Olympic gold medalist and Harvard swimmer David Berkoff is almost there.

Today at Blodgett Pool, the Harvard men's swimming team will begin to host the three-day 1989 Eastern Seaboard Swimming and Diving Championships. It marks the last time Berkoff will swim competitively at Blodgett.

He is almost there.

After becoming the first Harvard swimmer to win an NCAA swimming title since 1961 (Berkoff won the 100-yd. backstroke in 1987), after entering the international scene in 1988, after breaking the world record in the 100-meter backstroke, after winning a gold medal in Seoul, after setting an American record two weeks ago, Berkoff is almost there.

"For me, I've done everything that I have wanted to do," Berkoff said. "My career is over."

He is the only swimmer in the world to swim the 100-yd backstroke in less than 48 seconds (47.87) and the 100-meter backstroke in less than 55 seconds (54.51).

He is an innovator of the sport. For the past few years, Berkoff has made the pool his own. All because of a technique that has marveled the crowds in Seoul and has caused swimming's governing body to take action against it.

The "dolphin kick." The "submarine start." The "Berkoff blast-off."

That is why, people say, he is so fast. Berkoff leaps into the water. While other swimmers stay above the surface, he disappears.

Where'd he go, you ask? I can't see him.

Seconds pass. Berkoff rises out of the water. He is alone, racing uncontested. Three, two, one, blast off.

No, says swimming's international governing body. One week after the Olympics, a new rule was instituted for international competition, a rule which requires backstrokers to surface within 10 meters of the start of the race.

But Seoul is not Cambridge. And this weekend, the dolphin will be kicking for the last time at Blodgett.

"[Blodgett] is where I started," Berkoff said. "I feel like I'm not looked on with any high expectations."

Anyone who was at Harvard last fall remembers the day in September when Berkoff broke the world record in the preliminary round of the 100-meter backstroke.