2004 Olympics: Preview

Michael Phelps chasing Spitz's Olympic mark

11:34 AM CDT on Monday, August 9, 2004

By RACHEL COHEN / The Dallas Morning News

Michael Phelps could swim in up to eight events – five individual and three relays – as he chases Mark Spitz's record seven gold medals in one Olympics. Achieving the feat would earn the 19-year-old from Baltimore a $1 million bonus from Speedo.

Phelps will be favored in the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys and the 200 butterfly.

The 200 freestyle will be his toughest challenge. Ian Thorpe of Australia holds the four fastest times in history.

The Aussies' strength in the 200 also does not bode well for the Americans' chances to win the 4x200 freestyle relay, which Phelps will probably anchor.

His other major obstacle comes in the 100 butterfly. He will face world record-holder Ian Crocker, who beat him at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and he will probably have to defeat Crocker to earn a spot in the medley relay finals. (That relay team generally features the country's top performer from the 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle.)

Because the relay prelims are before the 100 butterfly final, Phelps will probably swim in that heat as the second-place trials finisher. Swimming in the prelims but not the finals would earn Phelps a medal should the heavily favored Americans win the relay, but that scenario could devalue his medal count in people's minds. (Spitz swam the finals of all three victorious relays in 1972.)

Phelps acknowledged that he did not feel 100 percent before his final event at the trials, a day after swimming three races in one session. Because of relays, he could swim in more heats in Athens, though the events will be better spread out after he dropped the 200 backstroke.

U.S. men's coach Eddie Reese jokes that even if he were swimming anchor, the 4x100-meter medley relay team could win gold. That would be appropriate, actually, as the first three legs might be his former swimmers from Texas.

Odds are that Aaron Peirsol will handle the backstroke and Brendan Hansen the breaststroke. Ian Crocker can take the butterfly by beating Michael Phelps again in the individual 100.

The three led the Longhorns to a short-course (25-meter pool) medley relay world record at the NCAA Championships in March. (Olympic races are swum in a 50-meter pool.)

"Having Brendan and Peirsol who are both going to be on that relay just makes something I want to strive for so much more," Crocker said. "I don't want two of my brothers to get up there and take part in something like that without me. It will just be magical once it happens."

The three combined to set four world records at the Olympic Trials: Hansen in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, Peirsol in the 200 backstroke and Crocker in the 100 butterfly.

Jenny Thompson is almost nine years older than Amanda Beard, but the two prove the same point. They are both showing that age needn't slow women's swimmers. Thompson, 31, heads to her fourth Olympics, Beard, 22, to her third.

"Obviously in the earlier history of our sport, you just saw the 14- and 15-year olds succeeding," U.S. women's coach Mark Schubert said. "Then there was a myth you couldn't do it past 20. There's no reason that it can't be like track and field and that great athletes can't remain great athletes into their early 30s. Women are proving that, not just in our country but around the world."

Thompson qualified in the 50-meter freestyle and 100 butterfly, Beard in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley. Neither has won an individual Olympic gold medal.

With another gold, her ninth, Thompson would tie Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most by a female Summer Olympian. With another medal, her 11th, she would match Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi as the most decorated U.S. swimmers.

Natalie Coughlin could be the female Michael Phelps. After all, in 1998 she became the first swimmer to qualify for every event at U.S. Nationals. In 2002, she ranked in the top four in the world in five races.

But Coughlin chose to play it safe at the Olympic Trials, entering only two of her signature events: the 100-meter backstroke and 100 freestyle. Teri McKeever, Coughlin's coach at Cal and an assistant with the women's Olympic team, said her only regret is that "the rest of the world outside the swim community won't get to see that versatility."

The decision was partly a matter of logistics, as the schedule made it difficult to also swim the 200 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly.

It was also a matter of philosophy.

"I feel like it's better for me to do really, really well in two or three events than mediocre in four or five," Coughlin said.

E-mail rcohen@dallasnews.com