In Phelps' golden glow, Twin Citians cheer, plan to swim

The audio from the big-screen TVs at Champps Americana in Minnetonka was lowered once the Vikings amassed a big lead during Saturday night's preseason game. Then Michael Phelps appeared on the screen -- and the volume and adrenaline were turned way up.

"It was crazy," Jarrett Ritenour, the restaurant's longtime general manager, said Sunday. "The Vikings game was over, but people were cheering, excited. Everybody had been waiting for Michael Phelps -- for this race.

"It's like one of the customers said: 'America really needs this right now.'"

The splash that American swimmer Phelps made in winning eight gold medals last week in Beijing has had a ripple effect in the Twin Cities. In a sporting community obsessed with Purple Promise and the first-place Twins' pennant push, fans' heads were still swimming with golden images of Phelps.

"The number of calls we're getting from parents wanting swim lessons for their kids is absolutely amazing," said Bette Fenton, vice president of marketing and communications for the YMCAs in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

"The YMCA has been giving swimming lessons for over 100 years. In the past, we've seen tremendous interest and enthusiasm in swimming during the Olympics.

"But not like this."

An estimated million viewers watched the Olympics on KARE 11 each night before Saturday. The ratings that night, which may be known today, may have reached uncharted waters when Phelps won his eighth and final gold medal.

"The ratings are huge," she said. She said more viewers tuned into the first nine days of the Beijing Games than the 17-day totals of the 2000 Summer Games in Sidney or 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

They were watching a small TV hanging in the beer tent at St. Hubert Catholic Church's Harvest Festival Saturday night. Even though the screen had a snowy picture, the crowd watched Phelps and his teammates win their final relay.

"USA! USA!" the crowd chanted as Phelps' ever-present toothy smile lit up the TV screen. "USA! USA!" the crowd cheered.

Even in the Twin Cities, half the world away, everybody seems to be talking about Michael Phelps.