Phelps ready for solo turn in world spotlight

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This summer, swimming’s world stage belongs to Michael Phelps — even if he has to build it himself.

The brilliant U.S. Olympic hero was in Montreal the past two days taking a look at the new facilities for the July 17 to 31 world aquatics championships, where he expects to cement his reputation as the planet’s best all-round swimmer. He witnessed the start of the Canadian trials for worlds, as the host country assembles new dreams on the ashes of a disappointing Athens Olympics.

The bottom line is, he was selling tickets for the Michael Phelps show. He will be the unrivalled star of the pool this year, a workhorse swimming in eight events — five individual swims and three relays.

Though Phelps captured six gold medals and two bronze last summer, somehow the spotlight was never his own. It was always pointed out that Mark Spitz had a record seven golds in Munich in 1972, or that Russian gymnast Alexander Dityatin already had set the standard of eight medals by a single athlete in 1980. And, on the night of the most anticipated race of the Olympics, the 200-metre freestyle, he swam the fastest time of his life only to finish third behind Australian Ian Thorpe and Pieter Van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands.

Thorpe and Van den Hoogenband congratulated each other. Phelps stayed in the pool watching the replay of the race. Leaving the pool deck, Phelps took another long look at the scoreboard and let it sear into memory.

This summer, he will rule the waves. Thorpe has elected to pass on the Montreal meet to conserve himself for next spring’s Commonwealth Games in Australia. Van den Hoogenband, a triple Olympic champion, is to undergo surgery on a hernia this morning. He wants to be in Montreal, but he’s 27 and coming off an operating table and says he won’t make the trip if he’s not at his best.

“I’m an athlete. A minor role doesn’t interest me. But I’ll be happy when I can move again,” he said.

Phelps and his major sponsor Speedo dived in like lifeguards to resuscitate the world championship event that almost sank to the bottom. The International Swimming Federation took the worlds away from Montreal in January because of a sponsorship shortfall and only reinstated the championships when the mayor guaranteed to cover the budget.

Uncertainty about the meet stalled ticket sales at about 15 per cent of the sales target before selling in earnest began last month. Phelps said in an interview yesterday that filling the house is a goal that goes hand-in-hand with the medals.

“A packed house is an excited house. I hope we can get a message across and 13,000 people are in the stands,” he said. “The faster I can swim, the more excited everyone will be. When you’re on a pace for a record and tiring, the crowd helps a lot to get you through it. I want to be remembered as one of the greatest swimmers ever, that would be fun.”

The absence of Thorpe won’t leave him without motivation. In the 400 freestyle, he’ll challenge Grant Hackett of Australia; in the 100, he’ll likely face Canadian champion Rick Say of Vancouver.

“Everyone has his own decisions. Ian Thorpe skipped for a reason. It may help him in long run and if it does, then sport will be more exciting in the long run. It’d be more exciting with him here, but we have good people here.”

The enormous workload of eight events doesn’t faze him.

“I like to race against the best, and when you have a few events, you have a chance of meeting the best more often,” he said. “It keeps me going, keeps my head on straight. The number of races I do will only help me. I’m not worried about burnout. What do you have to lose?”

Meanwhile, there was early sign of revival of Canada’s swim fortunes. Mike Brown of Calgary and Morgan Knabe of Victoria both beat the time standard in the men’s 100-metre breaststroke in the first preliminary session of the world trials at the Claude-Robillard Centre.