American team awaits worlds

When he was done, Phelps climbed out, dried off and faced a clutch of Australian reporters who grilled him about his love of poker and his English bulldog, Herman.

"They tried to wring every little ounce about it out of me," the Rodgers Forge native said.

The American team, along with the Dutch and Italian teams, are spending the week training at low-key Kardinia Park in this city that's an hour's train ride from Melbourne, where the world championships began yesterday with synchronized swimming preliminaries.

The eight-day swimming competition opens next Sunday at Rod Laver Arena, home to tennis' Australian Open.

"I can't believe the enthusiasm this country has for the sport of swimming," said breaststroke specialist Brendan Hansen, a first-time visitor. "I've just been feeding off that.

"From what I've heard, Melbourne is going to be a rock show."

For now, though, the waiting is the hardest part.

"We're getting lots of rest and relaxing, but you do start to go kind of crazy," said Natalie Coughlin, who will swim four individual events and possibly three relays. "You have all this built-up energy, but yet you have to save it."

Phelps planned to catch a movie later yesterday with some of his teammates, and maybe flip through pictures of him and Herman stored on his digital camera. It's his first extended time away from the bulldog he got last year as a gift from his agent.

"I miss the little guy, that's for sure," Phelps said, grinning. "I'll be spending almost a month away from him. Hopefully, he'll remember me when I get home."

Sleep was a major priority for much of the team, although several swimmers said they were now snoozing through the night after struggling the first two days with the 18-hour time difference from the U.S. West Coast.

Coughlin said she was "bored out of my mind laying in my hotel room."

"The beach is right across the street, but there's only so much you can do when you're trying to rest," she said. "I had to go to the bookstore I was so bored."

Kate Ziegler, an 18-year-old shopping fiend, hoped to rally a couple of her teammates for a trip to Target. Informed that a lower-priced collection by designer Stella McCartney was being featured, Ziegler responded, "Oh, cool."

Hansen was hoping for a chance to explore Geelong on foot.

"There's only so many DVDs you can watch," he said. "How often do you get to come to Australia?"

A couple of hours after the American team ended its first two-hour training session of the day, the pool deck was clogged with kids competing in a youth meet.

When they're not dozing, the Americans will hold two daily workouts and have team meetings over the next week.

"Their main role here is to just kind of get settled, rested and focused," U.S. women's head coach John Collins said. "The ingredients are there for a great meet and we'll just see who shows up. The major players are well prepared."