October 7, 2008
Sun coverage: Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics
Photo gallery: Images of Michael Phelps during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Soundbites on Phelps' Olympic performance
Comments from the world of sports and beyond on Michael Phelps' record-setting Games.
Sun archives: Phelps out of the pool
Despite what some may believe, swimmer Michael Phelps doesn't actually live in the water.
Also see: Phelps in action | Phelps' 2008 Olympics golds | Phelps video highlights
Hometown hero
With cascades of shrieks and the pounding of oh-so-many teenage feet, they heralded his coming. At the center of the herd, rolling down York Road, was a National Guard Humvee with a lanky young man waving from its open roof.
Rick Maese: Phelps secures rare place in city's heart, sports lore
Over the course of 17 races in 1 1/2 weeks, they celebrated Michael Phelps from the privacy of their homes, their excited voices careening off living room walls, waking up neighbors and stopping nearby traffic. But for the most part, the cheers and screams faded somewhere between Baltimore and Beijing.
Out of pool, Phelps stays in his lane
It's unlikely you'll see Michael Phelps peel off his shirt, lean out of his open-top Hummer and fling it into the parade crowd today.
Sports Digest: Performers announced for Phelps celebration
Organizers of a celebration honoring swimmer Michael Phelps say the Naval Academy Concert Band, the Morgan State University Choir and local bands will perform at the event this weekend. The celebration is planned for Saturday at Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Organizers announced that the local bands include big-band funk orchestra Chopteeth, a cappella group Reverb and The Players Band, a ska group formed in Baltimore. Access Hollywood's Billy Bush will host the event. Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, will be honored with a parade in Towson before the evening program. The events will also pay tribute to two other Maryland swimmers: Olympian Katie Hoff and Paralympic champion Jessica Long.
Laura Vozzella: Just get them to the church on time
Florist? Check. Photographer? Check. Police traffic coordinator? Double check.
Phelps honored at Michigan football game
Michael Phelps returned to the University of Michigan, his home for four years before the Beijing Games.
Phelps' worldwide splash
He has traveled to so many cities and countries since the Olympics ended, when he wakes up in the morning, it's almost impossible for Michael Phelps to remember the date, or even what day it is.
Laura Vozzella: Come back, kid, when you can show ID
With Michael Phelps' face plastered on the cover of Sports Illustrated and boxes of Frosted Flakes, you've got to wonder: Did he lose the chance to live a normal life when he won all that Olympic glory?
Phelps' tour touches down in Baltimore
He's traveled to so many different cities and different countries since the Olympics ended, when he wakes up in the morning, it's almost impossible for Michael Phelps to remember the date, or even what day it is.
Towson prepares for crowds along Phelps parade route
It's beginning to sound like a military operation, complete with maps, complex logistics, moving machinery and marchers in uniform.
Under hot 'SNL' lights, Phelps plays it cool
It's very late at 30 Rockefeller Center, where it's been dark for hours, the stores long closed. Yet tourists and determined sightseers crowd the entrance, slog into an impossibly long but ever-growing line or just huddle around, camera phones on standby.
The Flip Side: On SNL, in a bit over his head
Say this much for Michael Phelps: At least he didn't fall down. Baltimore's swimming superstar didn't exactly add a ninth gold medal for his Saturday Night Live performance. Here are a few reviews:
Sports Digest: Phelps to auction items for charity
Michael Phelps' golden stroke - this time with a pen - will help raise money for charity. Autographed photos, USA swim caps and Sports Illustrated covers are among the collectibles in Phelps' one-year deal with Grandstand Sports & Memorabilia. Phelps, a Rodgers Forge native, said he wants to offer fans the chance to own keepsakes from the Beijing Games, where he delivered the greatest performance in Olympic history. He recently started his own charity, committing $1 million he earned from Speedo for his record eight gold medals at the Olympics.
From Saturday's Sun
For Phelps, a mix of nerves, excitement before 'SNL' stint
Michael Phelps is strolling the red carpet with rock stars.
Phelps' mom and his diet may be fodder for 'SNL' sketches
Michael Phelps, in New York rehearsing for hosting " Saturday Night Live" this weekend, revealed today that this weekend's show might include skits about his mom and his famously high-calorie diet.
For Olympian, a new life
He has walked down the red carpet with Kid Rock, been a presenter at the MTV Video Music Awards, filmed a skit with Jimmy Kimmel, been asked for autographs by celebrities, been a guest on Jay Leno's show, served as honorary bell ringer at the New York Stock Exchange and is rehearsing for his role as this week's host of Saturday Night Live.
Towson parade to honor Phelps, fellow Olympians
Eleven Olympic athletes with Maryland ties - foremost among them Michael Phelps - are being invited to take part next month in a parade in their honor in Towson, followed by a salute at Fort McHenry that will be capped off with fireworks.
Celebration slated Oct. 4 for Olympian Phelps
Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps will be officially welcomed back to his hometown of Towson with a parade Oct. 4, a source close to the event's planning said yesterday. A second celebration will likely take place the same day in Baltimore. Details of the day's festivities in honor of Phelps and other Maryland Olympians are to be revealed today during a noon news conference attended by Gov. Martin O'Malley, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and James T. Smith Jr., Baltimore County's chief executive. A media advisory issued yesterday by the county's communications office made a point of mentioning that Phelps will not be attending today's news conference at Towson High School, although his mother, Debbie Phelps, is scheduled to be there. The record-shattering 24-year-old swimmer grew up in the Towson neighborhood of Rodgers Forge.
Phelps in the fast lane
This is what 24 hours in the life of Michael Phelps look like these days:
Phelps a winner on 'Oprah'
Before Michael Phelps could finally return home to Baltimore, the Olympian needed to visit a fan in Chicago.
Phelps to donate $1M bonus
Michael Phelps has long yearned to attract more kids to swimming and to teach them about the pursuit of dreams, using his own life as the textbook.
Catching up with Phelps much easier on land
There was a big personality waiting to leap out of Michael Phelps. He was just waiting for someone to ask the right questions after he waved to a crowd of fans in a celebratory parade hosted by Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom yesterday.
Swimmer Phelps to host SNL opener
Olympic star will try his hand at late-night comedy
A hero's welcome, a new life in fame
The life Michael Phelps returns to in Baltimore won't be like the one he left
Laura Vozzella: If you live near Michael Phelps, don't answer the phone
How's this for gold-medal motivation? On July 31, just days before he headed to Beijing, Michael Phelps shelled out $36,538.46 for property taxes on his $1.7 million Fells Point townhouse.
Phelps' life denies colleges' drinking argument
Somewhere in Maryland, there's a state employee who owns a piece of the gold Michael Phelps will bring home from Beijing. This fellow was never part of MP's training team, and neither mentor nor boyhood friend. In fact, he's someone Phelps probably doesn't like to think about - the state trooper on duty when the great athlete did something foolish and dangerous. The trooper stopped Phelps from driving out of Salisbury under the influence of alcohol, saving not only the Olympian's life but possibly someone else's. The man-dolphin magnificence we just saw in the Summer Games might never have occurred had that trooper not been there for Phelps one night in November 2004.
Rick Maese: Dreaming for all of us
His arms are long enough to wrap around a Buick. His hands are as big as baseball mitts, and those feet would fit snugly in clown shoes. While his shoulders are broad, his lean frame would slide into a crack in the wall. In the afternoon, the sun casts a geometric shadow that's all sharp angles and long lines. It's easy to see that Michael Phelps is an amazing swimmer. He looks the part in every way possible.
1 day, 2 golds
Fourth gold: 200 fly -- Aug. 13; Fifth gold: 800 free relay -- Aug. 13
Ray Frager: Riding wave of interest in Phelps
Looking through the sports media notebook while wondering when The Sun's Beijing correspondents are going to get an interview with General Tso:
Phelps trading cards, memorabilia bring high prices
Michael Phelps' remarkable Beijing performance will certainly bring riches his way, but it is also putting money in the pockets of collectors who snapped up Phelps memorabilia before the Olympics.
Companies vie to hand Phelps money
Swimmer's star is high, but future fame uncertain
Phelps' pool plans uncertain
Michael Phelps has backed away from a previous comment he made about purchasing a pool in Baltimore, saying at a news conference yesterday that he's not sure of his plans.
Why we need this hero
We are fascinated with the "underdog" story, enthralled whenever someone can rise above and overcome the challenges set before him.
Now Phelps tackles fame
Swimmer adjusting to rush of media, fan attention after record-setting Games
Phelps talks about purchasing pool
Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps said last night that he is starting a new endeavor involving a pool he and coach Bob Bowman are purchasing in Baltimore.
Phelps and his 700,000 friends
Yes, Michael Phelps has been called a rock star. But online - at least on Facebook - the Rodgers Forge swimmer is actually much bigger than that.
Phelps to rest, reinvent
After a break, shorter events might dot star's path to gold in 2012, coaches say
Rick Maese: Phelps should just keep going
When London calls, swimmer will have answer
Bush praises Phelps in and out of pool
President Bush praised Olympic champion Michael Phelps yesterday for his performance in the swimming pool and outside it.
Phelps completes historic quest
Rodgers Forge native wins 8th gold of Beijing Games in medley relay, breaking Spitz's 36-year-old record; 'Every day it seems like I'm in sort of a dream world'
Only race left for Phelps is against other sports legends
Michael Phelps has left us only with questions of history.
Rick Maese: Phelps cements place as greatest
A frenzy of golden energy, Michael Phelps exited the pool, shaking water off his lithe and lean body. Onto the pool deck splashed the droplets - those Baltimore roots, the memories from Greece and the immaculate show he'd just put on in China.
Phelps' eight golds, race by race
It's been quite a ride. Michael Phelps has been bold. He's been dominating. He's been lucky. And he's even been mortal when his goggles filled with water like an age-group swimmer. The second gold, a teammate assisted, saving the day. The seventh gold, give an assist to the Omega timing touchpad. (By the way, Omega is one of his sponsors.) But in the end, with Sunday morning's win, he became the first swimmer to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics. Here's a look back at how he did it.
Phelps rallies, makes history by a hair
Swimmer's victory by a hundredth of a second puts him within one win of a record 8 gold medals
Phelps never bigger; test of time looms
He and Spitz set 7-goal standard but in varied way
Rick Maese: Good to the last drop
He shows great wall of own to out-touch foe for gold No. 7
Spitz relates to Phelps 36 years after feat
They are both tied to the number seven, as in medals. They both swam six of the same events and set world records in all of them. They were both the talk of the sporting world.
Rick Maese: Teen, Olympians cheer each other on
The day the Olympics began, before the Opening Ceremony fireworks exploded, before the giant torch lit up the night sky and before Michael Phelps began blowing up world records right and left, 6,800 miles away, Emily Long sat down at her laptop and filed her dispatch.
Golden quirks
Think you know everything about Phelps? Here are eight of his lesser-known traits
Where only swimmers' best will do
For Murray Stephens and the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, effort is everything
Rick Maese: Phelps' home schooling
Swimmer has earned the glory, but sisters showed him the way
Baltimore TV soaks up the Phelps-Hoff splash
The hometown crowd is watching Michael Phelps and his unprecedented Olympics success in near-record numbers, making Baltimore the highest-rated TV market for this year's Games and helping WBAL, Channel 11, absolutely trounce the prime-time competition since Friday night's opening ceremonies.
Phelps stands alone in Olympic history
Swimmer wins two more races, sets mark with 11 career gold medals; he stays on track to break Spitz's record for single Games
Bill's Rant
Bill Ordine's rant: Forgetting Spitz's golden ticket
More than three decades ago, Mark Spitz was the American super-athlete with enough gold hanging around his neck to qualify him for his own safety deposit box at Fort Knox.
Phelps wins 200 free, now 3-for-3
Swimmer stays perfect in Beijing with third victory, third world record, tying Olympic mark with ninth career gold medal
Phelps' Olympic quest on track
U.S. team comes from behind for dramatic win in 400 freestyle relay; Hoff wins silver medal in 400 freestyle
Phelps' shining win
Olympian grasps his first gold of the Games, breaks his old world record
Rick Maese: A record start for Phelps
The race for history started this way: the lean swimmer stretching on the block and channeling adrenaline, his icy stare directed solely at the pool. His sights were not set on eight gold medals. For today, for this race, one would be enough.
Phelps low-key on arrival to China
Michael Phelps sneaked into Beijing almost unnoticed. He's unlikely to go out that way.
Phelps' voyage
From Rodgers Forge to the brink of Beijing, the swimmer hasn't always been on cruise control
Rick Maese: Phelps homeward bound
It was raining outside when her youngest left the nest.
Rally to honor Phelps and Hoff
A rally will be held at 7:15 p.m. Friday in downtown Towson to honor Baltimore County residents Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff, who are in Beijing to compete on the U.S. Olympic swim team.