Michael Phelps drops out of Olympic 200-meter freestyle

OMAHA — The most compelling story line of the 2008 Olympics will not be repeated in 2012.

Michael Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals in 2008, cut his London event schedule to seven on Monday.

Phelps captured the attention of Americans — even those who barely pay attention to swimming — with his quest to win eight gold medals in Beijing. Bob Bowman, the coach for Phelps, said there would be no regrets about skipping out on the chance for an encore.

“No one should be expected to do that twice,” Bowman said. “Once was more than enough.”

Phelps declared before the U.S. Olympic trials that he would not repeat his Beijing effort. He qualified for eight events anyway — apparently to assess his progress in all of them — but said he had no second thoughts about withdrawing from one.

“It’s so much smarter for me to do that,” Phelps told the Associated Press. “We’re not trying to re-create what happened in Beijing. It just makes sense.”

Bowman said he and Phelps had discussed dropping one event last week and finalized the decision Sunday night. USA Swimming set a Monday deadline for swimmers to scratch from any Olympic event for which they had qualified, and Phelps dropped out of the 200 freestyle.

Phelps won the 200 free in the 2008 Olympics as well as in the trials here, and he has the second-fastest time in the world this year in that event. Bowman said he believes Phelps could have won the event in London.

However, had he not withdrawn from the 200, Phelps would have had to swim preliminaries and semifinals in that event as well as a relay on the second day of Olympic competition. The three relays were not contested at the trials, so five events here would have translated to eight in London, within the same eight-day span.

Bowman noted that Phelps trained four hard years in advance of Beijing, then did not commit himself to the same level of training for London until two years ago.

“It would be illogical to expect him to do that program again, with less preparation,” Bowman said.

Phelps still can set the records for most overall medals by any Olympian — he needs to win three — and extend his record for most gold medals. But Bowman conceded the pressure to repeat the perfect program from Beijing played a role in the decision not to try again.

“Yes,” Bowman said, “We won’t hear the number eight again after this press conference.”

Frank Busch, the USA Swimming national team director, said he was not discouraged that America’s most recognizable swim star would not try for an encore.

“Michael is four years older,” Busch said. “What he did in Beijing was superhuman.”

Phelps, 27, and the man who rose up as his foil over the last four years, Ryan Lochte, are both eligible to swim seven events in London. Phelps and Lochte raced against each other in four finals at the trials, with Phelps winning three times.

Phelps and Lochte had won the two U.S. spots in the 200 free. Ricky Berens, who finished third in the event at trials, now replaces Phelps in the 200 in London.

Berens had not qualified to swim any individual events there. He had no advance notice of Phelps’ withdrawal, according to his Twitter feed.

“Words can’t describe how I am feeling right now,” he wrote. “If Twitter is right, I am swimming the 200 free at the Olympics!!!!! This is nuts!”

Once Berens got confirmation, he tweeted again.

“Best Monday EVER!!!” he tweeted.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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