Michael Phelps has made no secret that he wants to break Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record of seven gold medals at a single Olympic Games, so to give himself the best chance to do that, Phelps is entered in nine events (adding three more than normal) at next week's U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb.
The six-time Olympic gold medalist from the Athens Games (he also won two bronze) is entered in the 100- and 200-meter freestyles, the 200 and 400 individual medleys, the 100 and 200 backstrokes, the 100 and 200 butterfly and the 400 free. He is the world-record holder in the 200 free, 200 IM, 200 fly and 400 IM.The only events the 22-year-old superstar hasn't entered are the breaststroke events and the shortest and longest freestyle events. The top two finishers in each event book a berth for the Beijing Games, which start Aug. 8.
Phelps is unlikely to swim nine individual events in Beijing even if he qualifies for them all but should also be on the three U.S. relay teams.
In fact, Phelps is likely to drop one of the qualifying events at the trials. But he and his coach, Bob Bowman, are keeping their options open.
"No. 1, it just keeps us from having to justify what we're doing, over and over," Bowman said. "But I guess there's something to be said for having a competitive edge, and not letting our competitors know what they should be prepared for. So there's a little bit of gamesmanship, I suppose."
For instance, the 400-meter individual medley and 400 freestyle are both on June 29, and the 400 IM is one of the events Phelps won at the 2004 Games. Both also are scheduled for the same day in Beijing. The trials schedule nearly mirrors the Olympic schedule. The only difference is that no relays are contested at the trials.
Phelps won seven golds at last year's world titles in five individual events and two relays. He was denied an eighth when the U.S. was disqualified from the medley relay.
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