BEIJING — Michael Phelps spent all Tuesday afternoon playing spades with his five roommates, including a few who may derail his dream. He’s hanging out watching movies in the Olympic Village.
The biggest story in the Olympic Games, a man on the verge of becoming the most decorated Olympian in history, is approaching it like he did a Y meet growing up in Baltimore.
“You guys are talking about it,” Phelps told a packed news conference here Wednesday. “I’m not saying anything.”
The world will talk about it more. The avalanche of words and pictures begins Saturday with his prelim in the 400-meter individual medley. From then until Aug. 17, Phelps will race, barring catastrophic elimination in heats, 17 times in nine days.
Not that his quest for an unprecedented eight gold medals will be watched closely, but one of the first questions he fielded Wednesday was if he had calculated how much slower or faster he’ll go with his new Fu Manchu moustache.
For the record, the marginal-looking facial hair won’t affect his pursuit. However, plenty of other factors could. To wit:
• 400 IM. His most grueling race is first. This is arguably the toughest event in swimming, and while it hasn’t taken too much out of him in previous meets — he owns the top four times in history — that doesn’t mean it won’t take out a lot here. He may win the gold, but let’s see how it affects him over nine days.
“They’re all going to be hard but the one that will be hardest will be the first one, the 400 IM,” Phelps said. “It’s the one I’m most excited to swim.”
While Phelps will go down as the best all-around swimmer in history, he is not a great breaststroker.
• Ryan Lochte. His own teammate could derail Phelps’ goal. In the best race of the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Phelps edged Lochte by 0.83 in the 400 IM, with both surpassing Phelps’ previous world mark of 4:06.22. Phelps clocked 4:05.25 and Lochte 4:06.08.
Lochte is obsessed with beating his good friend and isn’t intimidated by him. He finished second to him in the 200 IM in Athens and finished 0.42 behind him in Omaha. He’ll also face Phelps in the 200 backstroke, where Lochte beat Olympic gold medalist Aaron Peirsol in last year’s world championships.
“His biggest obstacle is going to be Ryan Lochte,” U.S. men’s coach Eddie Reese said. “Ryan’s just a great competitor and has four great strokes.”
• Relays. Even if Phelps sweeps his five individual events — 200 and 400 IM, 100 and 200 butterfly, 200 freestyle — he still must win two of the three relays to match Mark Spitz’s record seven golds.
Two relays are dangerous. In Sunday’s 400 freestyle relay, France has two of history’s top five 100-meter freestylists in world-record holder Alain Bernard and Fabien Gilot. In the final relay, the 400 medley Aug. 15, butterflyer Ian Crocker’s false start cost Phelps an eighth gold at last year’s world championships.
“There’s nothing for certain,” Reese said. “There are going to be relays that will come out of nowhere to do a great job. That’s what the Olympics are all about.”
• Concentration: It is not easy staying focused through 17 races, even if this is the Olympic Games.
He is favored in all five individual events, but the one he does not have the world record in, the 100 butterfly, will be his last individual race. It will be his 16th race, and Crocker, who has the world record, wants to beat Phelps, who beat him in Athens and Omaha.
“I think at the worlds, (Phelps) won by hundredths of a second and I watched him win by .01 of a second when I was there in Athens, and it is well into his program,” Spitz said.
• Pressure: Phelps’ biggest strength, besides his condor-like wingspan and endurance, is a persona that sheds pressure faster than water droplets.
“If they gave black belts for handling pressure, he’s about a sixth-degree black belt,” Reese said.
It’s the biggest challenge any Olympian has ever faced. And the deck is stacked.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
