Michael Phelps

Every two years the Olympics roll around and amazing specimens of humanity like Michael Phelps make the rest of us feel like tree sloths.  The Winter Olympics are bad enough - downhill racers streaking like rockets, snowboarders and ski jumpers defying gravity, skaters making ice look like a dance floor instead of something hard, cold and dangerously slick - but the Summer Games have the added element of athletes competing with their bodies on...

Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes Click here to download TV listings for the week of Feb. 24 - March 2, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies       CBS This Morning Nancy O'Dell ; CEO Dana Fiser, Jenny Craig. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Michael Phelps; Oscar fashion; La La Anthony; Melissa D'Arabian. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Oscar highlights. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Kelly and Michael At Hollywood & Highland Center the morning after the Oscars celebration.

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.

Michael Phelps might not be done with the Olympics. A top-flight amateur golfer, Phelps has signed a deal with Ping. “Hey, you never know,” Phelps told the Associated Press. “Being a golfer at the Olympics would be kind of fun.” The greatest swimmer of all time, having set Olympic records with 18 gold medals and 22 overall, began playing with his new Ping clubs in the Phoenix Open pro-am tournament Wednesday. He recently toured the manufacturer's facilities for his club fitting.

Sports offered a mixed bag over the last 10 years, integrity often fading into the background and the 2000s producing nearly as many scoundrels as it did stars. A decade that gave us the BALCO scandal and a corrupt Olympic figure skating judge at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games also served up transcendent figures such as Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, all in their athletic prime and each perhaps the greatest-ever champion in his chosen field. Of course, as Woods' carefully crafted image eroded over the last month amid a series of tabloid-ready revelations, even the best of the best weren't immune to embarrassment.

We're guessing any retirement party you've been to didn't include bikini-clad waitresses, chilled vodka shots and world class DJs. But then again, Michael Phelps isn't anywhere near retirement age. But retire the 27-year-old swimmer did. Following a blaze of glory at the recent London Olympic Games that saw him named the most-decorated Olympian in history, Phelps celebrated the end of his competitive career in Las Vegas. A Labor Day weekend bash awaited Phelps and athlete pals such as Allison Schmitt and Nathan Adrian, kicking off Friday at the Wynn Encore's Surrender nightclub.

LONDON -- After Michael Phelps concluded his record run in Beijing, he vowed never again to swim the 400-meter individual medley. The race was too grueling, he said, and he had no intention of trying try to repeat his 8-for-8 gold medal derby. Yet there he was, swimming the event again this year, repeatedly refusing to say why. "I'll give you the honest answer after I'm done," he said last week. On his first day as a retired swimmer, he did. PHOTOS: Olympic highlights from Day 9 He could not have lived with himself if he could have swum fast enough to win the gold medal in London.

  LONDON -- There are 101 reasons we love the British newspapers ... and the online product is, in a word, brilliant, at the London Olympics. Where else could you see brick-by-brick reenactments of major moments at the Games? The Guardian is at it again -- the site did a series of hilarious spots during the World Cup two years ago. Its latest offering is a "reconstruction" of Michael Phelps in Thursday night's 200-meter individual medley, winning his 16th gold medal at the Olympics and 20th overall.

Michael Phelps might not be done with the Olympics. A top-flight amateur golfer, Phelps has signed a deal with Ping. “Hey, you never know,” Phelps told the Associated Press. “Being a golfer at the Olympics would be kind of fun.” The greatest swimmer of all time, having set Olympic records with 18 gold medals and 22 overall, began playing with his new Ping clubs in the Phoenix Open pro-am tournament Wednesday. He recently toured the manufacturer's facilities for his club fitting.

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.

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was named the Associated Press male athlete of the year on Thursday. “It's kind of nuts to think about everything I've gone through,” Phelps said. “I've finally had time to myself, to sit back and say, " … that really happened?' It's kind of shocking at times.” Phelps, who won four gold medals and two silver at the London Olympics, barely defeated Miami Heat star LeBron James to win the award. Phelps finished with 40 votes in balloting by U.S. editors and broadcasters, while James was next with 37. Track star Usain Bolt, who won three gold medals in London, was third with 23. It is the second time Phelps has won the award, the other time coming in 2008.

Michael Phelps has added another triumph to his list of accomplishments: the Associated Press male athlete of the year. The retired swimmer edged the Miami Heat's LeBron James in voting announced Thursday, a fitting payoff for winning four gold medals and two silver medals at the London Games, as well as recognition for becoming the most decorated Olympian ever. Phelps finished with 40 votes in the media balloting, winning the award for the second time. James had 37, followed by track star Usain Bolt with 23. Carl Lewis is the only other Olympic-related star to capture AP male athlete of the year more than once, taking the award in 1983 and '84 for track and field.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The congratulatory telegram is a historical relic. When Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympic athlete last summer, President Obama congratulated him via Twitter. On Wednesday, when Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants became the fourth player ever to hit three home runs in a World Series game, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tweeted his congratulations. Sandoval said he got 300 text messages. He cherished this spotlight on his home country, and on its baseball success this season.

Michael Phelps can golf too. Or at least putt. The gold-medal swimmer sank a 159-foot putt on Friday in Scotland in about the same length of time -- 17 seconds -- it takes him to swim 50 yards. The momentous putt by Phelps, who is an average amateur golfer with a 16 handicap, came during the second round of team play at the Dunhill Links Championship at the Kingsbarn Golf Links in St. Andrew's. Phelps, who won 22 medals, including 18 gold, in three Olympics, had driven to the front edge of the green on the par-four sixth hole.

Michael Phelps, the most-decorated Olympian in history, is turning his attention to golf now that his swimming days are behind him. The owner of 18 gold medals, and 22 overall, will join David Feherty on Golf Channel's "Feherty Live" in advance of the Ryder Cup. The show will be taped live and air Wednesday, two days before the international match-play competition at Medinah Country Club that pits the top U.S. players against their rivals from...

We're guessing any retirement party you've been to didn't include bikini-clad waitresses, chilled vodka shots and world class DJs. But then again, Michael Phelps isn't anywhere near retirement age. But retire the 27-year-old swimmer did. Following a blaze of glory at the recent London Olympic Games that saw him named the most-decorated Olympian in history, Phelps celebrated the end of his competitive career in Las Vegas. A Labor Day weekend bash awaited Phelps and athlete pals such as Allison Schmitt and Nathan Adrian, kicking off Friday at the Wynn Encore's Surrender nightclub.

LONDON -- First, there was this screaming headline in Britain's Daily Mail: "US Attacks China Over Drugs Row Supergirl Swimmer. " But the next move in the swim pool tat-for-tat war of words between the United States and China was truly bizarre and strangely out of focus, as a former Olympic doctor from China promptly decided to throw Michael Phelps and his 14 gold medals under the bus. If the doctor, Chen Zhanghao, was trying to steer the...

Michael Phelps broke the record for most Olympic medals won by one person when the U.S. team won the gold medal in the men's 800-meter freestyle relay at London. Phelps broke the record held by former Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina. Phelps, who swam the anchor leg, has 15 gold medals. Ryan Lochte gave the U.S. team a huge lead on the first of the four legs.

Michael Phelps is certainly used to the water, but perhaps not in a high fashion context. The most decorated Olympian on record has a new addition to his impressive résumé: Louis Vuitton model. The 27-year-old, arguably the biggest star of the just-closed London Olympics, appears in a new campaign promoting the brand's high-end range of day bags and luggage.  Shot by Annie Leibovitz (who just took a different sort of dip with Russell Brand), Phelps appears only in a black speedo and some goggles, submerged in a stark bathtub beside a Vuitton tote.  Initial reactions to the ad called it "moody," but the Ministry commends Phelps for working a little "Zoolander" blue steel after winning all those gold medals in the U.K. A second campaign shot features Phelps in three-piece suit (so versatile!

As thrilling as it was to watch the American women's soccer team get golden revenge for last year's World Cup or Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian in history, the most significant moments of this summer's London Games had as much to do with the coverage as with the events. Revelations rolled out almost daily. Twitter trends are often meaningless. Spoilers don't bother most people, even in sports. Viewers are learning to use the Internet as a complement to, rather than replacement of, television.