U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS Phelps has his work cut out for him

U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

Phelps has his work cut out for him

Michael Phelps, swimming's rock star, says, "I don't consider myself a rock star."

Which is a very rock-starish thing to say, except that Phelps backs it up. In the same news conference held here before the start of the U.S. Olympic swim trials, Phelps was asked what swimmers he'll be watching. He mentioned his Club Wolverine teammate Erik Vendt, because "He is my roommate here."

Phelps has a roommate?

He has major sponsorship deals with six corporations. If he wanted to, he could buy Omaha and fix it up. He is a college grad, 22, a professional swimmer, the greatest swimmer in the world, on a quest to become one of the greatest athletes in history.

And yet he's all, "Dude, do you mind if we watch SpongeBob? It helps me relax."

Phelps is the Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan of swimming. Do you think Woods or Jordan ever roomed with a teammate in their prime?

Apparently success has not gone to Phelps' head. Worldly pleasures and rich-guy indulgences still take a back seat to what he does, which is swimming, and what he is, which is a swimmer.

Or more accurately, the swimmer - on such a monster mission that he doesn't have time to worry that it's beneath him to rock-paper-scissors his roomie for who gets first shower in the morning.

At the Olympics in Athens four years ago, Phelps won six gold medals (four individual, two relays). Mark Spitz won seven golds in 1972. Guess how many gold medals Phelps wants to win in Beijing in August?

Think of the Eight Gold Medals as an oil painting. Viewed from a distance, it seems reasonable, it makes sense, seems very doable.

But move in real close, nose to the canvas, like here at the trials, and the picture becomes fuzzy, you see a hundred ways that Eight Golds is impossible.

The No. 1 reason was expressed by Ian "The Thorpedo" Thorpe, the brash and now-retired Australian swimmer who (along with another swimmer) beat Phelps in the 200-meter freestyle in Athens, his lone individual-event non-gold.

"He won't do it (eclipse Spitz)," Thorpe said in January.

Why not?

"Because of this thing called competition."

To qualify for an individual event in Beijing, Phelps needs to finish first or second here. Today, Phelps swims his first final, the 400-meter individual medley, and this is his showcase, he should kill.

That leaves five other events where he'll face a greater amount of this thing called competition.

"I still think nothing is a lock for me," Phelps said Friday.

In the 200 backstroke, for instance, Phelps goes against Aaron Peirsol, defending Olympic champ of the event, and Ryan Lochte, the world record-holder. Somebody fast will finish out of the money.

To earn a place on the relay teams in Beijing, Phelps will have to perform here. (Relay teams are chosen by the coaching staff.) He'll need to post a fast time in the 100 and 200 freestyles to snag a spot on the 4x100 and 4x200 free relays, and he'll need to earn his way onto the 4x100 medley relay.

"I think (making) the 4x100 (medley relay) remains one of his biggest challenges," U.S. coach Mark Schubert said last week. "His 100 free time certainly could not be considered dominant, and Ian Crocker is on his game, so (Phelps') butterfly time cannot be considered dominant, so his spot on the 400-medley relay cannot be considered to assured. Everything needs to be earned. ... He's got to show something at the trials, and he knows that."

Tough crowd.

So Phelps will be a busy lad. He is entered in nine events, but he dropped out of today's 400 free on Saturday, and might drop out of one or two more before the finals. He and his coach Bob Bowman will plot strategy as they go, based on gamesmanship and simple survival. Phelps likes to keep busy, and swimming a lot of races here is good prep for Beijing, but there's a fine line between preparation and suicide.

What Phelps is aiming for is stupendous in scope, beyond the imagination of other swimmers (except Katie Hoff).

"I think he relishes it (the challenge)," Schubert said. "I think this is a challenge he set his goals on when he was a young Olympian in 2000. I don't think this is a challenge that all of a sudden the last year or two he undertook. He took on the Mark Spitz challenge in '04, he had a tremendous Olympics, but he's taken it on again. And I think that's what's going to make him the most successful Olympian in history."

And Phelps will go big-time.

Dude, I'm outta space, mind if I hang some of my gold medals on your side of the closet?

Busy week: Phelps is entered in eight events, but might not swim that many. A look at his complete day-by-day schedule. Racing guide: A look at the must-see races during the trials plus a look at today's best bets. D9

Phelps' full slate

A look at the schedule for Michael Phelps, who entered nine events, although he dropped out of today's 400-meter freestyle:

Today

400 IM - Morning prelims and evening final. Phelps set the world record at last year's world championships in Australia.

Monday

200 free - Morning prelims and evening semifinals. Phelps is the world record-holder.

100 backstroke - Morning prelims and evening semifinals. Phelps is second-fastest behind world record-holder Aaron Peirsol.

Tuesday

200 butterfly - Morning prelims and evening semifinals. Phelps is the world record-holder.

Wednesday

100 free - Morning prelims and evening semifinals. Phelps owns the fastest qualifying time in a loaded event.

200 fly - Final.

Thursday

200 backstroke - Morning prelims and evening semifinals. Phelps' qualifying time trails include both Aaron Peirsol and world record-holder Ryan Lochte.

100 free - Final.

200 IM - Morning prelims and evening semifinals. Phelps is the world record-holder.

Friday

200 back - Final. Will be a must-see event if Phelps makes it. He qualified second at the 2004 trials, but dropped the event at the Olympics and didn't swim it at last year's world championships.

200 IM - Final.

100 butterfly - Morning prelims and evening semifinals. World record-holder Ian Crocker resumes his rivalry with Phelps.

Saturday

100 fly - Final. Phelps' last day of competition.

Pick six

Your can't-miss six-pack of races at the Olympic Trials:

Men's 400 individual medley, tonight - This is Michael Phelps' speciality. It will be like watching Picasso paint a naked babe. But Phelps can't cruise because of pushing from gadfly supreme Ryan Lochte, along with Robert Margalis Jr.

Women's 200 free, Wednesday - Battle of titans! Teen (19) sensation and American record holder Katie Hoff, eyeing eight gold medals in Beijing, versus superstar Natalie Coughlin, two golds and four other medals in Athens. But that's not all. You've also got Stanford's Julia Smit and Cal Aquatics' Dana Vollmer.

Women's 200 IM, Wednesday - Another Coughlin-Hoff showdown. Coughlin ditched this event for years, came back to it this year on a whim and broke the American record three weeks ago. This event is a Hoff specialty, but insiders say this could be Coughlin's best event. Watch her turns.

Men's 200 back, Friday - You've got defending Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol; world record-holder Ryan Lochte, a not-quite superstar waiting to bust out; and Phelps. At the recent Santa Clara meet, Peirsol flew in from Texas just for the race and beat Phelps by .03.

Men's 50 free, Saturday - The fun factor is off the charts. Contenders include 33-year-old, half-crazy Gary Hall Jr., the defending Olympic champion; Cullen Jones, first African-American to break a long-course world record; Cal grad Nathan Adrian; and Stanford's Ben Wildman-Tobriner, out of obscurity to challenge the world.

Women's 50 free, July 6 - How can you not watch 41-year-old Dara Torres shoot for an unprecedented (for a swimmer) fifth Olympic berth? Coughlin might be in this one, too. Coughlin was 2 years old when Torres won her first Olympic gold medal.