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Michael Phelps' Olympic destiny:

July 8, 2004 1:10 am

LONG BEACH, Calif.--Michael Phelps says it's no big deal. He can swim fast in virtually any stroke, so why shouldn't he?

But while Phelps is just 19, he's not naïve. He knows that his quest to match or surpass Mark Spitz's 1972 haul of seven Olympic gold medals is a huge deal. It could give swimming a shot in the arm that no steroid can match.

"One of my biggest goals is to change swimming and bring more attention to the sport," the Baltimore native said this week. "Doing something no one else has done is one way to bring attention to the sport. We want to test the max and see what I can do."

Last night, Phelps took the first stroke toward his lofty goal by capturing the 400-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic trials at the Long Beach Aquatic Center. He did it in a time of 4:08.41, besting his own world record by more than half a second.

It was the first of the six events the man a rival calls "the best athlete in the world right now" hopes to win, both here and in Athens. He has his eye on up to nine Olympic golds (including relays).

But there's a long way to go--and more than just the water to navigate.

Some critics say Phelps is biting off more than he can chew by swimming 17 races in seven days. Others say his coach, Bob Bowman, is pushing his phenom too hard in an attempt to earn glory for himself and a reported $1 million bonus for Phelps from his primary sponsor, Speedo. Still others say NBC is looking for an American star in an Olympics filled with uncertainty.

But, as Bowman puts it: "He's got the talent to win every race he enters. I don't know if he'll be in position to do this again in his life."

Phelps played several sports until he was 11--"mostly as a way for my parents to burn off my energy," he said. He even considered joining Towson (Maryland) High School's golf team as a sophomore, and he flirted with football because most of his friends played the sport.

But out of the water, he was normal, even uncoordinated.

"When he runs, something bad happens," Bowman quipped. "Every fall, I try to make him run, and it ends up that I don't sleep for three days."

In the pool, though, Phelps is an unprecedented, unstoppable force. He holds three world records, and at 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, he seems to be able to handle any stroke.

"He's got a unique combination of flexibility, strength and endurance," Bowman said. "He sort of has all the parts."

That's why he'll try to win the 200 and 400 IM, the 100 and 200 butterfly, 100 freestyle and 200 backstroke both here and next month in Athens. It's an ambitious plan that drew scorn from his top international rival, Australian Ian Thorpe.

But publicly, at least, no one here doubts his chances.

"It's very rare that you get a chance to see an athlete of this caliber, especially in the 21st century," said three-time Olympic gold medalist Lenny Krayzelburg, a rival in the 200 back. "Everything is so specialized. It's great to see someone who's truly great in every aspect, especially one so young.I think he's the best athlete in the world."

It's hard to argue. At last summer's World Championships, Phelps won four golds and set five world records, just weeks after capturing six events at the National Championships in College Park, Md. He holds world records in both IMs and the 200 fly, plus the American record in the 200 free.

"I'm very in awe of the confidence he has in himself," women's 100 backstroke world record-holder Natalie Coughlin said. "It's awesome.I've never seen him not swim well under pressure."

So why wouldn't he think he can repeat that feat this summer and match (or surpass) Spitz?

"I'm just as curious as the next person as to how he'll go about doing this," Spitz said. "It's fascinating and interesting that someone decided to take up this challenge. It's a great opportunity for Michael, for swimming, for the Olympics and for all of us to talk about."

Curiously, Phelps never has met Spitz, who became America's poster boy after the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Those games were marred by the terrorist murder of seven Israeli athletes and the U.S.'s controversial loss to the Soviet Union in men's basketball.

But with his trademark mustache and his seven world records, Spitz became the Games' feel-good story.

"When I won the seventh gold, Keith Jackson interviewed me for ABC, and he made the comment that it would be a record for all time," said Spitz, now 54 and clean-shaven. "I remember saying that I hope I live long enough to see someone break it. If I had encouragement, why not root for someone else?

"It doesn't take away anything from what I accomplished."

Phelps and Spitz sat in the same chair for separate press conferences Tuesday, separated by two hours, a generation--and an invisible barrier. They should meet Saturday night, when Spitz is scheduled to hand out medals in the 200 fly.

Until now, Phelps hasn't made an effort to meet the man he's so often compared to. That--and the fact that he joked, "I could win 15 gold medals if I wanted to"--have stoked some anti-Phelps sentiment.

But Phelps' quest may be even more difficult than Spitz's was. Swimmers now must compete in three rounds of all races up to 200 meters; in 1972, it was just two.

Plus, he'll have some serious time management issues. On Monday, for example, Phelps must swim the 100 fly preliminaries in the morning and three races at night: the finals of the 200 back and 200 IM, plus the 100 fly semifinals.

He'll have less than an hour between the first and last races. And most of his rivals will be well-rested.

"He's got to look at it as a dogfight," said Edwin Moses, the former American breast stroke record-holder. "Everybody wants a piece of him. It's like the [boxing] movie 'Diggstown.' It's like, 'next, next, next.' He's in Wrestlemania with a tag team."

But Spitz--who has some experience in the field--thinks Phelps' early success may have the opposite effect.

"As other swimmers watch his performance, those one-event swimmers may start to second-guess whether they've trained properly, tapered properly, rested properly," he said. "That momentum is hard to stop."

No matter what, Phelps figures to emerge from the Olympics as a wealthy young man--and the most famous American swimmer since Spitz.

But many observers fear his quest could overshadow the performances of other top swimmers like Coughlin and Ian Crocker (who beat Phelps in the 100 fly and set the world record at last summer's World Championships).

Others worry about what may happen if Phelps falters in an event--especially one of the early ones. Will he suffer a letdown? And will others consider him a failure despite his overwhelming success?

"If he doesn't win the gold medal, or if he doesn't make the team [in an event], it's a bigger story than if someone [else] breaks the world record," said Stafford backstroker Jeff Rouse.

"How'd you like to walk away with five Olympic medals and the first thing someone asks you is, 'How do you feel? Do you consider yourself a failure?' And you know it's going to happen."

Or, as Spitz put it: "Seven gold medals is not an event. It was a journey of his young career. I'll be interested in watching the journey."

For now, Phelps just smiles and shrugs off the questions. He insists he's just trying his best, and the world won't end if he fails.

"I want to be the first person to try it," he said. "I want to be able to look back and say I've done everything I can, and that I've been successful. I don't want to look back and say, 'I could have done this, or I should have done that.' This will test how strong and how ready I am."

To reach STEVE DeSHAZO: 540/374-5443 sdeshazo@freelancestar.com