Phelps to Sydney, Oh, Boy!

When a 15-year-old finishes second at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, the news is hardly earth-shattering these days. Change the gender from female to male and it takes on fascinating implications.

Michael Phelps of Baltimore turned 15 on June 30, and Saturday he was transformed into an Olympian, placing second in the 200-meter butterfly in a personal-best 1 minute 57.48 seconds. Tom Malchow, who was on pace for the first 100 to break his own world record, finished first in 1:56.87. His world record, set in June, is 1:55.18.

“I might be retiring a lot sooner than I thought,” said the 23-year-old Malchow, joking about Phelps’ bright future.

Phelps, who has grown four inches since the start of the year, was stunned when he looked up at the scoreboard at the Indiana University Natatorium and spotted the time and place. He will be the youngest U.S. male swimmer to make the Olympic team since 13-year-old Ralph Flanagan in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“At first I really couldn’t believe it,” Phelps said. “I thought I saw it and then I had to take my goggles off to really see.”

There was a surprise on the women’s side too. Gabrielle Rose, whose mother is Brazilian and father is American, made her second consecutive Olympic team. Rose, 22, represented Brazil in 1996 and has been swimming with the Irvine Novaquatics since May, coming out a brief retirement. In 1997, she decided to swim for the U.S.

Rose finished second in 2:14.95 in the 200 individual medley behind winner Cristina Teuscher’s 2:13.36. But Rose had been on the edge in the event, grabbing the 16th and final spot in the prelims in 2:19.77 and she had the seventh-fastest time in the semifinals.

In the other final, Lindsay Benko, who graduated from USC and grew up about three hours away from here in Elkhart, Ind., won the 200 freestyle in 2:00.45.

Jenny Thompson, who had the top American time in the world this year, did not swim the event, and Dara Torres, who was the second-fastest, scratched after the preliminaries Friday because of cramps.