Phelps' performance is the stuff of legends

By Lisa Dillman

April 2, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA —

Whether it happened to be world champions wobbling and toppling or five world records vaporizing under his golden touch, one unambiguous fact emerged after Michael Phelps’ eight days and nights in a Melbourne pool.

The landscape changed after the 21-year-old won a record seven gold medals at the World Swimming Championships. No longer are comparisons merely made to swim legends, Mark Spitz and Ian Thorpe, but names such as greats Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are now included in the conversation about Phelps on the road to the Summer Olympics next year.

Frankly, this being Australia, it’s surprising by Sunday he wasn’t compared to Rod Laver, which happened to be the name of the arena where Phelps tried to complete his grand slam of sorts, aiming for eight gold medals in eight events. Spitz won seven gold medals in the 1972 Olympics, and Phelps won eight medals at the 2004 Olympics, six of them gold.

“His performance this week was the greatest of all time,” U.S. head Coach Mark Schubert said. “I don’t really look at it by the medals, I look at it by the dominance, by the records. I just didn’t notice any weak points.”

Only an errant exchange in the 400-meter medley relay Sunday in the morning preliminaries -- of which Phelps was not a part -- stopped his bid to hit the stated eight-for-eight gold-medal mark. Teammate Ian Crocker dived in for the third leg, the butterfly, and left the block early by the narrowest of margins.

“Everything can’t go perfect, so it’s all about how you adapt from those things.... It definitely wasn’t intentional,” Phelps said. “They all wanted to swim and get us into the final.”

Here’s how much Phelps let the setback affect him later in the evening: He blew away the field and also demolished his own world record in the 400 individual medley, winning in 4 minutes 6.22 seconds. Phelps broke his mark by two seconds, winning the race and seventh gold medal by 3.52 seconds over teammate Ryan Lochte.

Defending world champion Laszlo Cseh was an incredible 8.54 seconds behind in fifth place.

“I took one breath in the middle of the pool, and I saw a random spectator standing and clapping,” said Phelps of the last leg. “That right there gave me a good idea I could be under world record pace.”

Even Phelps admitted to being “shocked” by such a big drop in time.

Then there were the telling words from the vanquished swimmers trudging through the mixed zone afterward -- “I need a wheelchair, my legs are shot,” Lochte said, while Cseh said through an interpreter: “We should learn the turns because it makes so much difference between us and him.”

Phelps won five individual events here and broke world records in four. Three of the four were his own and the other was Thorpe’s vaunted mark in the 200 freestyle. Phelps’ fifth world record came with his teammates in the 800 freestyle relay.

His other gold medal was in the 400 freestyle relay, and his leadoff leg was faster than the winning time in the 100 freestyle later in the event. Schubert seemed to think Phelps might have had a shot in the 400 freestyle too and marveled at the various ways he has been able to win.

“He can do it from behind, he can do it from in front,” Schubert said, who thought the victory in the 200 butterfly was the most impressive. “He can do it when it’s close and when it’s not close.... The 200 fly beat the field by three seconds at World Championships. That’s just mind-boggling.”

Then there was analysis from another world champion that only a teenager can best provide. Seventeen-year-old Katie Hoff, who trained with Phelps in Baltimore before he moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., broke the world record in the 400 individual medley, winning in 4:32.89.

“It’s weird, honestly, on deck, he’s like an older brother, like Michael,” Hoff said. “When he’s in the pool, it’s like he’s superhuman. Two totally different people. It’s cool to see those sides. Everyone thought he was at his peak in 2004. I don’t think he’s even close to what he can do.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

World Swimming Championships

Highlights from Times staff writer Lisa Dillman on the ninth and final day of competition from Melbourne, Australia:

Younger ‘sister’: Michael Phelps was staring into the lights at a post-race news conference after his victory in the 400-meter individual medley Sunday when he spotted another world record in progress.

It was by 17-year-old Katie Hoff, and Phelps was digesting the split times of his former Baltimore teammate on a TV in the back of the room, and he beamed when she won the 400 individual medley in a world-record 4 minutes 32.89 seconds, winning by 7.25 seconds.

Victory secured, he resumed.

“Katie is like a younger sister I never had, like all of us never had,” Phelps said. “She is such a trooper, it’s unreal. She takes so much grief from all of us, just harassing her left and right. It’s fun.” Hoff confirmed the teasing.

“I [stink] at talking smack. You don’t even know,” she said. “He always tries to fake me out. I prepare, I’m like, ‘He’s going to do it to me now.’ And I flinch anyway. So I’m just a very skittish person.”

Hoff came into her own in and out of the pool in Melbourne. She won three gold medals, two individual and one in a relay, and the once shy youngster seemed more at ease with the media, and even helped veteran Natalie Coughlin get over her nerves before the 800 freestyle relay.

Then came the world record on the final day and her bright smile.

“It was definitely a complete shock,” she said. “I couldn’t believe that I shaved off three seconds of my best. I felt really good all day. In warm-ups, I was feeling really confident, probably the most confident I’ve ever felt before a 400 IM, which has traditionally been a tough event for me.”

*--* UP NEXT

*--*

All but three of the 14 world records broken at the World Championships were by the United States. The others were by Federica Pellegrini of Italy in the semifinals of the 200 freestyle (1:56.47), Laure Manaudou of France in the 200 freestyle final (1:55.52) and Australia in the women’s 400 medley relay (3:55.74).

On the final day, Jessica Hardy of Long Beach took the 50 breaststroke for her first gold medal at the World Championships. The total U.S. medal and gold medal counts tied the 1978 World Championship team, officials said.

*--* MEDAL TABLE

*--*

* United States: 36 -- 20 gold, 13 silver, three bronze.

* Australia: 21 -- Nine gold, five silver, seven bronze.

* France: Six -- Two gold, two silver, two bronze.

* Michael Phelps: Seven -- Seven gold.

ON THE WEB

For more coverage of the World Swimming Championships,

go to latimes.com/sports.

By comparison

After smashing his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley in Melbourne on Sunday, Michael Phelps joined fellow American Mark Spitz as the only swimmers to win seven gold medals at a major international meet. Spitz accomplished the feat at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany

(* world record):

MARK SPITZ

at 1972 Summer Olympics

200 butterfly 2:00.70*

400 freestyle relay 3:26.42*

200 freestyle 1:52.78*

100 butterfly 54.27*

800 freestyle relay 7:35.78*

100 freestyle 51.22*

400 medley relay 3:48.16*

MICHAEL PHELPS

at 2007 World Championships