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.

Hu thanks Bush for Olympics visit

Hu thanks Bush for Olympics visit

TOYAKO, Japan (AFP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday thanked US President George W. Bush, who has announced he will attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies, for not "politicising" the Games.

Hu said through an interpreter after talks with Bush on the margin of a rich nations summit in Japan that he "highly appreciated that President Bush has on various occasions expressed his opposition to politicising the Olympic Games."

"I told the president I was looking forward to coming to the Olympics. I reminded him that not only am I coming, but my wife, my mother and dad will be there and we're looking forward to your hospitality," Bush said.

"In this context, the president and I have constantly had discussions about human rights and political freedom. He knows my position and as I told our people, Mister President, I don't need the Olympics to talk candidly with somebody who I've got good relations with," he said.

Bush said Sunday that skipping the August 8 opening gala, as human rights activists had urged him to do, would have been "an affront" to China's people, making it harder to engage with China's leaders.

"So I'm looking forward to your hospitality," he said. "I'm hoping to get tickets for the US-Chinese basketball game. If you can help me get a ticket, I'd appreciate it."

The US leader said he and Hu had "candid discussions" on issues like Taiwan, Sudan and trade in their talks on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations in northern Japan.

Hu said their "sincere and friendly" talks also covered diplomatic efforts to convince North Korea to abandon its atomic ambitions and Iran to curb its suspect nuclear programme.

"I also briefed President Bush on the Chinese position on the Taiwan issue and informed President Bush about the current situation in the Taiwan straits," said Hu.

"We hope that the US side will continue to follow the 'One-China' policy," Hu said, referring to Washington's policy of recognising only the Beijing government of mainland China, which views Taiwan as a renegade province.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also announced on the margins of the G8 on Wednesday that he would attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games despite an earlier threat to boycott over a crackdown in Tibet.