INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, 7 October 2004 — After winning six gold medals at the Athens Olympics and eight medals overall, American swim star Michael Phelps is once more ready to take the plunge.
Six weeks after his stunning showing at the Games, the 19-year-old sensation will swim in six events over five days at the World Short Course Championships, which begin here today with more than 600 entrants from 100 nations.
A temporary 25m pool has been installed at the home arena of the National Basketball Association’s Indiana Pacers with seating for 11,000 spectators. A similar 50m pool was assembled in a parking lot for July’s US Olympic trials. In the past two short course world championships, at Athens in 2000 and Moscow in 2002, a total of 22 world records were set. More such heroics are expected here and Phelps figures to be the center of attention.
Phelps plans to entertain by swimming the 200-meter freestyle today, the 400 individual medley and 4x200m relay tomorrow, the 200 IM on Saturday, the 100 IM on Sunday and the 200 butterfly on Monday, the final day of the meet. There are some notable absentees, including Australians Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband, France’s Laure Manaudou and American Natalie Coughlin, who suffered an injury last week in training.
Triple Olympic champion Aaron Piersol and Jenny Thompson, who at 31 will be swimming in the final meet of her fabled career, are also among an American delegation of 48 swimmers, the largest at the meet.
China sent 25 swimmers with an eye toward to 2008 Beijing Olympics while 30 Aussies will compete, including 11 Olympians and 12 newcomers to international swimming looking toward Beijing as well.
Aussie Lisbeth Linton was third in the 50m freestyle and part of 4x100m medley and freestyle relays at Athens while teammate Brooke Hanson took silver in the 100m breaststroke and was on the 4x100m medley relay.
Jade Edmistone, 22, set a 50m women’s breaststroke world record of 29.90 seconds last month in the Aussie short-course nationals at Brisbane, serving notice she will be a threat this week.
