WALTHAM - There's a lot of talk about heart in sports. You hear things like, ''It all comes down to heart'' ... ''It's what's inside that makes an athlete truly great'' ... ''I'll take heart over talent anytime'' ... ''The victory goes to the one with the most heart'' ... yadda, yadda, yadda.
But if you really want to know a thing or two about heart, talk to Marianne Pettersen of the Norwegian soccer team.
Pettersen will probably tell you, matter-of-factly, about the times her heart races while she's on the field. Not like an adrenaline rush, but more like a thumping, pounding feeling, she says. Once she monitored her heart rate at 220 beats per minute, while the normal rate falls between 60 and 100. When her heart rate soars, she comes off the field so her heart can resume its normal rhythm. But she'll only rest for a minute. Then she's right back in her forward position.
''Not a problem for me at all,'' said Pettersen, whose team will battle China tonight in the Women's World Cup semifinal at Foxboro Stadium. ''What's one minute in a game? But I do get very irritated when that happens because I know that I have to take it easier.''
She went to the bench for a breather against Russia in the opening match of the World Cup, only to be greeted by a group of television cameras. But she remembers a match in the 1996 Olympics when she felt her heart pounding but didn't say anything and kept playing. Even with her heart racing at an alarming rate, Pettersen often tries to stay in the game. She realizes, though, that she has to sit down sometimes to stop her heart from beating uncontrollably.
Pettersen, 24, first noticed she had an accelerated heartbeat when she was 15. That also happens to be the age when she began playing soccer. Because the condition would come and go, Pettersen didn't see a doctor until she was 20. ''I wasn't scared about it,'' she said. ''The first time I got it, I didn't like it. But I didn't have it that often when I was young.''
Her heart gave her problems quite often last year, but it has happened only once so far in the World Cup. She never knows when her heartbeat will accelerate. She says that she has not been able to find a pattern for her condition, but she knows that it happens only when she makes quick, sudden movements like jumping in the air for a header or leaping to control a ball off her chest.
According to team physician Agnar Tegnander, Pettersen does not suffer from actual arrhythmia, an irregularity in the rhythm of the heart's beating. But when her heartbeat accelerates, she feels stiffness in her legs, shortness of breath, and dizziness. Fortunately, she has never lost consciousness. Despite the symptoms, both Tegnander and Pettersen said that tests have not shown a definite problem with her heart. Her condition does not appear to be life-threatening, they said, since she has lived with it for almost 10 years. Tegnander is always present to check her pulse.
A couple of doctors examined her before she came to America for the World Cup. They found nothing. She'll see another heart specialist when she goes back to Norway.
''We don't know exactly what it is,'' she said. ''It would be nice for me to find out what it is and maybe get rid of it. But it doesn't bother me because I know it's not dangerous. I figure if it had been dangerous I would have gotten ill before now.''
So she's adapted to playing with it. The way she sees it, if it ain't broke, why worry about fixing it? And who could blame her? Who needs a normal heartbeat when you can play like Pettersen? Arguably one of the top two or three players on the planet at her position, she's been able to score goals with her heart pounding. Either way, if she gets possession close to the net, she can put one on the board in, ahem, a heartbeat.
She has three goals in four World Cup matches this summer, giving her an astounding 50 in 72 international matches. That's third on Norway's all-time list behind teammates Linda Medalen (63) and Ann Kristin Aarones (56). By comparison, Medalen has 167 caps, and Aarones has 108. Pettersen and Medalen are probably the team's most popular players among the Norwegian fans.
''I think it puts certain pressure on you to score goals in each match,'' said Pettersen. ''They expect you to do that, and if you don't, you had a bad game. I try not to focus on that very much. If we win, I'm happy, and I can't go thinking about chances I missed."
Coach Per-Mathias Hogmo is quick to point out that she doesn't miss many.
''She scores a lot of goals,'' Hogmo said. ''I have been the coach for 37 matches, and she has scored 27 goals. That's a lot.
''I think she's the best forward in the world,'' he said. ''She's a player who has very good offensive and defensive skills. And she works very hard. She's very fast; she has good technique. And you can always trust Marianne to give her best.''
In the 1995 Cup, Pettersen scored three goals, the biggest coming in the Norwegians' 2-0 win against Germany in the final. After helping Norway to the bronze medal in Atlanta in '96, she was voted the best player of the Algrave Cup in Portugal the next two years. In March of 1998, she scored twice as Norway handed the United States its only loss of the year, 4-1. That's two goals. Against the big, bad Americans.
But that's old news. Pettersen and her teammates have to take care of business against China before they can start looking forward to a possible rematch with the United States - and a shot at another World Cup.
''For me it would be very wonderful because I was very young in '95,'' she said. ''I had only played on the team for a year. I did appreciate it, but I would appreciate it even more if we could do it again.''
Pettersen will definitely put her heart into it.
