Swimming is more than Michael Phelps

Donald Miralle, Getty Images

Michael Phelps swims to the wall en route to winning the final of the 200 meter butterfly during the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials on July 2, 2008 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Last update: August 5, 2008 - 3:55 PM

Events from Aug. 10-Aug. 21

FIVE STORY LINES

1. Eight is enough: Michael Phelps won six gold medals in 2004, missing out on topping Mark Spitz's record of seven golds at one Olympics. Phelps will swim in eight events in Beijing.

2. Looking to repeat: Amanda Beard, in her fourth Olympics, will try to win her second gold in the 200-meter breaststroke.

3. Her own record pursuit: American Katie Hoff will swim six events, trying to top the record for most swim medals won by a U.S. woman at a single Olympics (five, by Shirley Babashoff in 1976, Dara Torres in 2000 and Natalie Coughlin in 2004).

4.The Flying Dutchman: Pieter van den Hoogenband won the 100 and 200 in Sydney eight years ago; this is his fourth Olympics.

5. The Machine: Australia's Grant Hackett, a five-time medalist and one of the greatest distance swimmers in history, will race in the 200, 400 and 1,500 free. He won the 1,500 in Athens in 2004.

ODDS AND ENDS

• The U.S. has dominated Olympic swimming, winning 458 total medals and 202 gold, nearly three times the amount of the second-place country (Australia, 157). • Australian Ian Thorpe, who won four medals in Athens, retired and won't compete in Beijing.

READY TO SHINE

Dara Torres, the 41-year-old mom, will be swimming in her fifth Summer Olympics. Torres, who will compete in the 50-meter freestyle (and perhaps a relay), has won nine medals in her career. Her first was a relay gold in 1984 in her current home city of Los Angeles; she also won four medals in 2000 in Sydney after returning from a seven-year "retirement." "It's sort of bittersweet for me because I made my fifth Olympic team, but I'm going to be away from my daughter for a month and that's going to be real hard emotionally," Torres said of her 2-year-old, Tessa.

It's been a challenging run for Torres, who had to overcome surgery last November to remove a bone spur responsible for a partial rotator cuff tear in her right shoulder and knee surgery in January.

PRIME TIME THE SWIMMING FINALS HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE MORNING IN BEIJING SO THEY CAN BE TELEVISED IN PRIME TIME ON NBC.

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