Swimsuits Banned, Records Questioned

He fails to qualify in two events, barely makes a third

(AP) - Wearing an old-style swimsuit, Michael Phelps missed out on two finals and barely qualified for a third today at a World Cup short-course meet. Phelps failed to qualify for the finals of the 100-meter freestyle and 100 backstroke. He qualified in the 100 medley, finishing seventh in 53.13 seconds. He'll try two more events tomorrow. More»

Swimmer challenges others to switch before ban takes effect

(NEWSER) - Michael Phelps challenged his competitors at the upcoming FINA/Arena World Cup meets to race without the full-body technical suits recently banned by swimming authorities for providing an unfair advantage in speed. The ban doesn’t go into effect until January, but Phelps said he was “getting ready for where the sport is going,” by switching early to a waist-to-knee “jammer.” More»

(NEWSER) - America is shocked—shocked!—that David Ortiz took steroids, and disgusted that swimmers use full-body polyurethane suits, but “these steroided, polyurethaned cheating men should be our heroes,” writes Joel Stein in Time. “Americans are a performance-enhanced people,” a medication and surgery-enhanced super-race, using technology to overcome our genetics. “Having to accept the station you were born into is exactly why we left Europe. Also, the portions were too small.” More»

(AP) - Michael Phelps and the US 400-meter medley relay team closed the fastest meet in swimming history with an appropriate finish Sunday night in Rome—the 43rd world record. Phelps earned his fifth gold medal of a world championship that showed he's still got plenty of motivation, even after scoring a record eight golds at the Beijing Olympics. More»

(AP) - Michael Phelps beat Milorad Cavic again, and this time there was no doubt about it. With a defiant performance in a supposedly inferior suit, Phelps became the first swimmer to break 50 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly, beating the Serbian with a time of 49.82. Cavic also broke 50 seconds, but 49.95 was good enough only for silver. He wasn't nearly as close as last year's Beijing Olympics, when Phelps famously won by one-hundredth of a second. Cavic always maintained that he actually touched first. More»