Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps says it's fair for USA Swimming to suspend him for three months, the latest fallout from a photo showing the Olympic great inhaling from a marijuana pipe. Phelps was back training at his regular pool Friday, a day after his suspension. "It's not my decision. It's theirs," Phelps said of USA Swimming's decision. "I have nothing to say, but if that's what they want to do, that's their choice. It's something that USA Swimming came up with. It's fair.

It is a cool, overcast morning in Irvine and 10 swimmers of varying skills are taking a lesson in one corner of the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center. Some bellies hang over the swimsuits and a woman keeps mumbling about getting water in her ear. These aren't pros or even talented youngsters. They are in their 20s and 30s and are so different from the solitary man in the fifth lane who has arrived carrying a black mesh bag that holds goggles, a pair of fins, a small parachute and a snorkel that looks like one your 10-year-old might take to the beach.

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 continued his inconsistent year Friday, easily winning the 100-meter butterfly but finishing second in the 100 freestyle at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix. The 14-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder handled the competition in the butterfly. Australia's Nicholas D'Arcy was second and Davis Tarwater third. "The fly, I felt good. I was able to connect my stroke a little bit more and get my hips into it," Phelps said. "At the end of the day, I was kind of bummed about the finish.

Olympic champion Michael Phelps said Wednesday it has been difficult coping with the fallout from a photo of him smoking from a marijuana pipe. "It's something I am going to have to live with and something I'll have to grow from," Phelps told the Associated Press outside the pool where he trains in Baltimore. "I know with all of the mistakes I made, I learned from them and that is what I expect to do from this. By no means it is fun for me, by no means is it easy."

Michael Phelps continued his inconsistent year Friday, easily winning the 100-meter butterfly but finishing second in the 100 freestyle at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix. The 14-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder handled the competition in the butterfly. Australia's Nicholas D'Arcy was second and Davis Tarwater third. "The fly, I felt good. I was able to connect my stroke a little bit more and get my hips into it," Phelps said. "At the end of the day, I was kind of bummed about the finish.

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.

Normally, the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix is a pretty tame affair. But when Michael Phelps announced that the UltraSwim, which begins today, would be his first meet since he won eight gold medals in Beijing -- and the first meet since his three-month suspension for being photographed with a bong -- normal and tame got tossed right out the window.

This may well have been a new one in the storied career of Michael Phelps. Phelps went through the paces at a pre-meet news conference at a major swim meet and was not asked about Mark Spitz, not even whether he was relieved, finally, not to be compared to Spitz any longer after eclipsing the icon by winning eight gold medals last summer at the Olympics in Beijing.

Michael Phelps departed the mixed zone, leaving behind four words. "Losses always motivate me," he said. Words rarely uttered by Phelps because the losses happen so infrequently, and certainly not in the individual medley events. But long-time rival Ryan Lochte not only upset Phelps in the 200-meter individual medley, he did so in a decisive manner, winning in 1 minute 54.84 seconds at the U.S. national championships in Irvine on Friday night. Phelps was second in 1:55.

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.

Whether it was the night sparkling with consistent 1-2 finishes for the United States or victories in both swim relays, it was an emphatic statement for the future. Not only for next year at the World Championships but for that meet known as the Olympics, looming in 2012. "Every race has been a dogfight," Michael Phelps said. "We're having new guys step up and race, having the veterans step up and show some strength and put up some good times. Going into next year, we could very well have one of the strongest World Championship teams we've ever had. " Where to start on Friday night at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine?

Ryan Lochte stepped aside and Aaron Peirsol took full advantage of the backstroke lifeline. Peirsol had been on the outside looking in after the morning heats Wednesday at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine. But he got a second chance when Lochte scratched from the 100-meter backstroke final. He didn't mess up, or miss, this time. The Orange County-reared Peirsol won the event in 53.31 seconds (a meet record) by getting out fast and holding off a determined charge from Junya Koga of Japan, who was second in 53.63.

Ah, the good old days… Turning our lonely eyes to Aussie icons Thorpey and Klimey and remembering how American Gary Hall Jr. once set off a firestorm when he spoke about smashing the Australians like guitars. You might say with Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Hall now retired that the vaunted Aussie-U.S. swim rivalry has landed in the remainder bin. Not exactly. How about relocated? It all has, in a sense, gone more global, a fact expected to be fully on display with competitors from 21 countries on hand at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine.

Ryan Lochte stood on the podium, bright green sneakers on his feet and glittering gold medal around his neck. It was another reminder that this was his week. Lochte brushed up for the Pan Pacific Championships by dominating a star-studded field in the 200-meter backstroke at the U.S. national championships Saturday in Irvine. "I knew I had to get out fast and hold on for dear life," Lochte said. "Those last 50 yards I could see that everyone was coming and thought, 'This is going to be bad.' " It wasn't.

Michael Phelps departed the mixed zone, leaving behind four words. "Losses always motivate me," he said. Words rarely uttered by Phelps because the losses happen so infrequently, and certainly not in the individual medley events. But long-time rival Ryan Lochte not only upset Phelps in the 200-meter individual medley, he did so in a decisive manner, winning in 1 minute 54.84 seconds at the U.S. national championships in Irvine on Friday night. Phelps was second in 1:55.

Ah, the good old days… Turning our lonely eyes to Aussie icons Thorpey and Klimey and remembering how American Gary Hall Jr. once set off a firestorm when he spoke about smashing the Australians like guitars. You might say with Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Hall now retired that the vaunted Aussie-U.S. swim rivalry has landed in the remainder bin. Not exactly. How about relocated? It all has, in a sense, gone more global, a fact expected to be fully on display with competitors from 21 countries on hand at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine.

You may not be that familiar with Ryan Lochte, but he's the best swimmer in the world whose name is not Michael Phelps. Talk about bad luck; if he'd been born at a slightly different time he would be a swimming superstar. Instead he's known as the guy who finishes second to Phelps. With swimming starting today in Beijing, it seemed like a great time to assess their rivalry. And, if you miss the qualifiers in the 400 IM, the main event, the final, is Sunday in prime time (7 p.m. PDT).

Jimmy Feigen was in …and then he wasn't. Josh Schneider was out and kept appealing decision after decision and finally got on the blocks for the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. national championships in Irvine on Thursday night. The bizarre back-and-forth day was triggered when Schneider forgot to scratch from the morning preliminaries in the 100 butterfly. He said later that he and his coaches didn't even know he was entered and was stunned there was even an issue. Under the rules, not scratching put him out of the 50 freestyle and led to his subsequent appeals, three in all. Under protest, he got in and Feigen was pushed to the consolation final.

Aaron Peirsol started his career chasing down an icon, and he has spent the last decade or so at the top in this country, fending off threats in the 100-meter backstroke. What finally knocked Peirsol off that high perch Wednesday night in Irvine, stunningly, was not a newcomer but someone who has been on the national scene for most of the decade. And not someone from a so-called swimming hotbed. It was 24-year-old David Plummer, who wanted to be a firefigher as a kid growing up in Oklahoma City, went to the University of Minnesota and trains with the Minnetonka Swim Club.