Swimming Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff will stay busy at Olympics

Swimming Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff will stay busy at Olympics

The rehearsal is over. Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff, Natalie Coughlin and Ryan Lochte are taking their show on the road to next month's Beijing Olympics.

The quartet was idle on the final night of the U.S. Olympic trials Sunday, getting a rare moment to enjoy their accomplishment of qualifying for multiple Olympic events.

Phelps will be the busiest in Beijing. He earned another shot at Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals set in the 1972 Olympics and will swim in eight events — five individual and all three relays.

"You guys talk about that," he told reporters, referring to Spitz's record. "I just get in the water and do what I love to do, and that's compete."

Spitz endorsed Phelps at the trials as a worthy successor, suggesting that after 36 years it is time for someone else to take his mantle.

Mark Schubert, head coach and general manager of the U.S. team, expressed confidence in Phelps.

"He's a performer," he said. "As the stage gets bigger, his performances get better."

Hoff also made it in five individual events, and she will also swim a relay.

Coughlin, a five-time medalist at the 2004 Athens Games, will swim in three individual events, as will Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay, who is Phelps' training partner in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Dara Torres made a big splash at the eight-day trials, winning the 50- and 100-meter freestyles at age 41.

"It's a lot of swimming," she said. "I am 41; I am realistic."

Torres has dropped the 100 from her schedule and she will be replaced in that event by Lacey Nymeyer, who finished third at the trials.