Bob Bowman

Although they haven't completely turned the corner on boredom, jurors in Pasadena are certainly turning the page. Those waiting around to be picked for trials at the Walnut Street courthouse can thank Bob Bowman's periodical visits for that. As he has done each week for eight years, 84-year-old Bowman wheels a cart loaded with free magazines into the jury assembly room every Friday morning. These aren't dogeared National Geographics or ancient Newsweeks, either.

LONDON - It is not the American way for an athlete to bid farewell from the top of the mountain. There is always one more season, one more challenge, one more contract. Willie Mays stumbled infamously around center field. Brett Favre made a mockery of the word "retirement. " Shaquille O'Neal morphed into The Big Bit Player. Michael Phelps did it his way, this way: Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gone. "I did everything I wanted to," he said. "If you can say that about your career, there is no need to move forward.

The swimsuit controversy threatening to overtake swimming officially came to a close at the end of 2009. This doesn't mean, however, there won't be a ripple effect in 2010 and beyond. With a return to the textile suit, and a recently imposed ban on high-tech polyurethane bodysuits, there are several remaining questions. World records almost lost their prestige during the frenzy of the last two years, so, how hard will it be to break one now? "I think it'll be interesting to see which record goes down first," said swim star Michael Phelps.

Michael Phelps shared his celebration with a pool and a world. He put his arm around the South African kid who had just beaten him in one of his signature races, guiding the protege through the medal protocol. He went out of his way to compliment a French sprinter on what he thought was one of the five best swims of all time. He gathered his relay teammates to thank them for their help, and to tell them he might be too choked up to sing the national anthem. And then he left the pool, with a giddy smile and the greatest collection of medals any Olympian has ever seen.

LONDON - The torch wasn't exactly passed. The torch was fumbled and dropped and floating alongside the thrashing Michael Phelps before Ryan Lochte cradled it in his giant grip and sprinted to the wall. Lochte became the best swimmer in the United States on Saturday night, but it didn't happen the way it was supposed to happen. He didn't steal the title in a dramatic duel with one of the greatest of Olympians. He casually picked it off the weary flotsam of a shrugging hero who seems less interested and more confused with every lap. Ryan Lochte shined, but the bigger story was Michael Phelps' sinking.

- He has posed, shirtless, for the cover of Vogue. He has worn high-top shoes with wings, decorated in red, white and blue. He has sold lime-green novelty glasses with his pet phrase - JEAH! - shading the eyes. His marketing team has advertised him as the next big thing in American swimming, the fun-loving successor to the decorated but dour Michael Phelps. An image is one thing. A champion is quite another. Ryan Lochte walked the walk Saturday, blowing away Phelps and flirting with a world record in winning the 400-meter individual medley, the first and possibly most grueling swimming event of the Olympics.

Reporting from Santa Clara, Calif. — Eight, apparently, was just enough. Swim icon Michael Phelps couldn't have been more emphatic on the burning topic of again trying to go after eight Olympic gold medals. There is no doubt he won't be winning eight gold medals because he said he won't be competing in eight events in 2012. Been there, done that. But that is only part of it. Phelps pulled off the record, three summers ago at the Olympics in Beijing. He won five individual gold medals and three more in the relays.

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, withdrew from the U.S. team in the 200 men's freestyle on Monday. Phelps had qualified for eight events in the Olympic trials, which end Monday night. His coach, Bob Bowman, announced Phelps' withdrawal via Twitter on Monday morning. "This will give him a full slate of 7 events," Bowman wrote. "This change will allow him to focus more energy on relays for Team USA. " Ryan Lochte, who rose up as Phelps' foil over the past four years, also is eligible to swim seven events in London.

Down goes Phelps. It was bound to happen some day to Michael Phelps. But not this way and not in this race and certainly not at the hands of a relatively anonymous German swimmer with an exceedingly modest resume. Paul Biedermann shed his anonymity only days ago when he broke a vaunted world record in the 400-meter freestyle. On Tuesday, he shed Phelps, handing the swim icon his first loss in about four years in an individual event at a major international meet.

Michael Phelps has always been a little obsessed with numbers, to the point where they sometimes pop up in his dreams. But over the last four years, no number has rattled around inside his head more than 50.40. It represented the world record time in the 100-meter butterfly. It belonged, though, to American Ian Crocker, who set that mark in 2005 in a race in which he beat Phelps by more than a full second.

LONDON -- The Olympic flame will be extinguished in 10 days, and with it America's love affair with swimming. Michael Phelps will retire, and we'll see the rest of the U.S. swimmers come the next Olympics. That is not the Australian way. The sport is a national passion, commanding attention year in and year out. Americans just wouldn't understand. But trash talk? Americans understand that perfectly well, and that is what made the men's 100-meter freestyle Wednesday so compelling.

LONDON — In the first three days of the Olympic swimming meet, the United States has set one world record. Dana Vollmer did that. Matt Grevers set an Olympic record. Missy Franklin set an American record. The two cover boys of the U.S. team, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, have set no records. Lochte won gold in the 400-meter individual medley on Saturday — and declared, "This is my time" — then stumbled to fourth in the 200 freestyle on Monday. Phelps tumbled to fourth in the 400 IM on Saturday.

LONDON - The torch wasn't exactly passed. The torch was fumbled and dropped and floating alongside the thrashing Michael Phelps before Ryan Lochte cradled it in his giant grip and sprinted to the wall. Lochte became the best swimmer in the United States on Saturday night, but it didn't happen the way it was supposed to happen. He didn't steal the title in a dramatic duel with one of the greatest of Olympians. He casually picked it off the weary flotsam of a shrugging hero who seems less interested and more confused with every lap. Ryan Lochte shined, but the bigger story was Michael Phelps' sinking.

- He has posed, shirtless, for the cover of Vogue. He has worn high-top shoes with wings, decorated in red, white and blue. He has sold lime-green novelty glasses with his pet phrase - JEAH! - shading the eyes. His marketing team has advertised him as the next big thing in American swimming, the fun-loving successor to the decorated but dour Michael Phelps. An image is one thing. A champion is quite another. Ryan Lochte walked the walk Saturday, blowing away Phelps and flirting with a world record in winning the 400-meter individual medley, the first and possibly most grueling swimming event of the Olympics.

Me, I'm pulling for Lochte. The rivalry doing flip turns through the first week of these Olympics surfaced Thursday with an unsettling splash. In preparation for a news conference featuring the U.S. swim team, officials set up eight name placards on a stage ... before suddenly removing six. Michael Phelps and his personal coach, Bob Bowman, would speak first, and speak alone. Ryan Lochte and the rest of the team's stars would speak later. Said Phelps: "We're all our own people.

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.

His words sounded quaintly hopeful, rather than pretentious. Whether Michael Phelps was in Barcelona, Athens or even Long Beach, at big meets and small ones, he had resolutely stayed on message since 2004. Phelps spoke of wanting to elevate the sport during non-Olympic years, keeping swimming afloat once the last anthem was played. Elbow room on the ESPN crawl and highlight shows in 2009 and 2010? You almost felt like saying: Good luck with that.

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte stood atop the awards podium, awaiting the medals that would signify just how fast they were. Amid the music, the lights and the celebration of two more entries in London, Lochte turned to Phelps and basically said: Dude, we're too slow. Phelps won Round 2 of America's greatest swimming rivalry Wednesday, beating Lochte by five-hundredths of a second in the 200-meter freestyle. Lochte edged Phelps on Monday in the 400 individual medley, with as many as four more duels possible by the end of the U.S. Olympic trials.

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, withdrew from the U.S. team in the 200 men's freestyle on Monday. Phelps had qualified for eight events in the Olympic trials, which end Monday night. His coach, Bob Bowman, announced Phelps' withdrawal via Twitter on Monday morning. "This will give him a full slate of 7 events," Bowman wrote. "This change will allow him to focus more energy on relays for Team USA. " Ryan Lochte, who rose up as Phelps' foil over the past four years, also is eligible to swim seven events in London.

OMAHA - The best Michael Phelps can do in London is eight gold medals, same as he did in Beijing. So how could he possibly do better this time? "It depends upon what better is," said his coach, Bob Bowman . Phelps said Sunday he has goals for London, but he declined to share them. He could become the first swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics. With three medals - of any kind - he would have more medals than any athlete in Olympic history.