Phelps’ Addition Upsets Hall

U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps got his first Olympic win before the Athens Games began.

In a move that irritated Phelps’ teammate, Gary Hall Jr., the U.S. coaching staff tentatively reserved a spot for Phelps in the final of the 400-meter freestyle relay to give Phelps his best chance to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympics.

After a workout Friday, Hall revealed that the relay spots in the final would go to Jason Lezak, Ian Crocker and Phelps, plus a slot to be determined early today. There is one scenario that could push Phelps out of the relay final. The coaches told Hall and three other preliminary swimmers that if two of them swam faster than 48.4 seconds in the morning, both would get spots in the final at the expense of Phelps. Only Hall has swum that fast.

Phelps had skipped the 100 freestyle at last month’s U.S. Olympic trials, which normally determines the candidates for the relay, but he earned consideration by recording a 100 freestyle time of 49.04 in the Spring Nationals in February. Hall said Phelps was getting special treatment.

“If the rules applied to everyone, I would understand,” Hall said. “I think it’s unfair to put the pressure of Michael Phelps’ seven-goal-medal hunt on the shoulders of the coach.”

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Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings, who tested positive for a banned substance at his country’s national trials, may still compete in the Games, a team official told the newspaper Gleaner in Kingston, Jamaica.

“We have until Aug. 17 to make any changes to the team,” Jamaican track and field manager Lincoln Eatmon was quoted as saying.

Track officials last week had said that Mulling would not be able to run until the medical panel of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Assn. hears his case.

-- Associated Press

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Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who headed the successful Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games, said Friday that Olympic “security demands seem to grow by the year,” but insisted the Games were worth sizable expenditures on security.

The security bill for the 2004 Summer Games totals $1.5 billion, according to the Greek government, five times what the United States spent to safeguard the 2002 Winter Games.

In general, Romney said, stressing that he was not criticizing the Greek plan, “I don’t think it has to be $1.5 billion, but it’s probably close to $1 billion to host the Summer Games. Do I think it’s worth it? Absolutely.

“The Olympics are unique in demonstrating the great qualities of humanity to the world. I said to my friends in the U.S. Congress, we spend $1 billion a year to enforce peace. We should probably spend $1 billion every four years to demonstrate it.”

-- Alan Abrahamson

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It might be too late for Derek Nicholson of Redondo Beach to salvage his dream of playing for the Greek baseball team in Athens, but he wants to clear his name and play again for his adopted country.

Nicholson, an alternate, was thrown off the team this week after he tested positive for a diuretic. He said the substance was part of a drug prescribed to control his hypertension and that he had filed the necessary paperwork informing team officials of his need for the medication and assumed they’d forward the information to the International Olympic Committee.

Panos Mitsiopoulos, chief of the Greek baseball federation, said Nicholson had not filed his paperwork on time.

“They want to make an example of someone,” Nicholson said. “All I want is to get these guys to say, ‘We messed up.’ ”

-- Helene Elliott

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Bulgarian Olympic Committee President Ivan Slavkov will challenge his suspension from the IOC, saying he didn’t get the chance to defend himself against corruption charges before his accreditation for Athens was revoked.

The Court Arbitration for Sports said Slavkov had lodged an appeal against the IOC executive committee’s Aug. 7 decision to withdraw his accreditation for alleged misconduct involving the 2012 bid city process. Slavkov was secretly filmed by an undercover BBC television crew discussing how votes of IOC members can be bought.

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Polish gymnast Joanna Skowronska, who fell from the uneven bars during training Thursday and fractured a cervical vertebra, did not suffer any neurological problems. Doctors said she would have to wear a neck collar for about two months.

-- Associated Press