Allison Schmitt

On the first day of the rest of his life,  Michael Phelps   slept in. Really in. "I just woke up," he told reporters at a 1 p.m. news conference Sunday, the day after he swam his last race ever to complete a 22-medal run over four Olympics. After spending much of his life seeing almost nothing but "the black line at the bottom of the pool," Phelps seemed ready to make up for lost time. He's been here for about two weeks, for example, but just now had seen Big Ben and the Parliament as he was driven to the event, organized by one of his sponsors, Visa.

Michael Phelps may have retired from competitive swimming after the London Games, but his coach is adding on work: He has signed with TSE Consulting, a global firm that specializes in working with sports federations. Bowman, who shepherded Phelps' record-breaking Olympic career from start to finish, will join the company's Sport Performance division, TSE Consulting announced Monday. Bowman said he will consult with sports organizations and national governing bodies, analyzing their past performances and offering strategies on how to improve them.

As a kid, Allison Schmitt's sport was soccer. She even had a Mia Hamm Barbie doll. If she imagined back then that she would find herself at the Olympics someday, it would have been as a teammate of Hope Solo and Alex Morgan. Instead, she is poised for a breakout Olympics in swimming. "I had the decision made for me when I got cut from the team at 12," she says of her stunted soccer career. "Swimming was a no-cut sport. " Schmitt, 22, is perhaps best known these days to casual followers of swimming as Michael Phelps ' training partner, first in her native Michigan and then at North Baltimore Aquatic Club, and the person the previously burned-out swimmer credits with helping him rediscover the joy of swimming.

Bob Bowman, who coached Michael Phelps through his record-breaking Olympic career, won a title himself Friday when he was named Coach of the Year by his professional association. The American Swimming Coaches Association award, given at a banquet in Las Vegas Friday night, puts Bowman on track to break a record himself: It is his fifth time winning the annual award, voted on by fellow coaches, tying him with colleagues Mark Schubert and Eddie Reese. "It's special since it's the last time I'll be working with Michael," Bowman said of Phelps, who retired from competitive swimming after the London Games.

Katie Hoff may be out of contention for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team after failing to qualify in the 200-meter freestyle preliminaries this morning. North Baltimore Aquatic Club swimmer Allison Schmitt won the prelims, besting the likes of Dana Vollmer and Missy Franklin. But Hoff, a former NBAC swimmer, came in 20th, still ailing from a stomach virus. She said she may not even attempt the remaining event on her schedule, the 800 free, which means she would sit out the London Games.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Michael Phelps remembers this as the city where he "came back," prompting his coach Bob Bowman to ask with mock innocence, "from where?" Bowman well knows, of course, that Phelps was referring to swimming his first race, the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix in 2009, after returning from a suspension after a photo of him with a marijuana bong surfaced. This weekend, he competed here for the last time, another stop in the valedictory lap he has been taking as he trains for his fourth and final Olympics this summer.

Bob Bowman, who coached Michael Phelps through his record-breaking Olympic career, won a title himself Friday when he was named Coach of the Year by his professional association. The American Swimming Coaches Association award, given at a banquet in Las Vegas Friday night, puts Bowman on track to break a record himself: It is his fifth time winning the annual award, voted on by fellow coaches, tying him with colleagues Mark Schubert and Eddie Reese. "It's special since it's the last time I'll be working with Michael," Bowman said of Phelps, who retired from competitive swimming after the London Games.

Michael Phelps may have retired from competitive swimming after the London Games, but his coach is adding on work: He has signed with TSE Consulting, a global firm that specializes in working with sports federations. Bowman, who shepherded Phelps' record-breaking Olympic career from start to finish, will join the company's Sport Performance division, TSE Consulting announced Monday. Bowman said he will consult with sports organizations and national governing bodies, analyzing their past performances and offering strategies on how to improve them.

It was a swimmer's version of a busman's holiday: During some rare time off last week from her intense training at Baltimore's Meadowbrook pool, Allison Schmitt decided to visit ... the National Aquarium. “When I saw the dolphins,” Schmitt said with a laugh Thursday, “I wanted to jump in.” Such is the single-minded focus of swimmers such as Schmitt, a bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympics, and among those competing here this week in the Indianapolis Grand Prix. It's among the final tune-ups before the qualifying trials in June for the London games in July.

Another day, another shot at a bit of redemption. But this time it may be for Tyler Clary, the swimmer whose public dissing of teammate Michael Phelpscaused a verbal firestorm as the two headed to the Games. Clary was widely viewed as the bad guy after telling his hometown newspaper three weeks ago that Phelps, poised to become perhaps the most decorated Olympian of all time, didn't work hard and was asking to get beaten. And Clary, little-known and headed to his first Olympics compared to Phelps' fourth, said "it would be complete satisfaction" when he did the beating.

On the first day of the rest of his life,  Michael Phelps   slept in. Really in. "I just woke up," he told reporters at a 1 p.m. news conference Sunday, the day after he swam his last race ever to complete a 22-medal run over four Olympics. After spending much of his life seeing almost nothing but "the black line at the bottom of the pool," Phelps seemed ready to make up for lost time. He's been here for about two weeks, for example, but just now had seen Big Ben and the Parliament as he was driven to the event, organized by one of his sponsors, Visa.

The tension in the air at Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center during Michael Phelps ' 100-meter butterfly race Friday afternoon was almost as thick as the chlorine smell that filled the pool's lobby. From the moment Phelps hit the water, the nearly 50 members of the Olympic swimmer's North Baltimore pool crowded around a TV screaming "Mi-chael! Mi-chael! Mi-chael!" They issued a collective groan at the halfway turn, when Phelps appeared to be lagging behind. But he pounded through the last 50 meters, and the nervousness at Meadowbrook erupted into euphoria - manifested in an earsplitting scream - as Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, stretched past South African Chad le Clos and Russian Evgeny Korotyshkin to claim his 17th gold medal and 21st medal overall.

Bob Bowman was done, or so he thought. Something of the Michael Phelps Whisperer to the media, he can be counted on for insights, such as on Tuesday night after the Baltimore swimmer became the most decorated Olympian ever after winning a gold medal as anchor of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team. Bowman delivered. Often emotionally, sometimes sardonically, he offered wisdom on the eventful night and then took off. But he came back. Oh wait, he said, almost forgetting about his other talking point, Allison Schmitt, gold-medal winner and Olympic record-breaker.

Bob Bowman was done, or so he thought. Something of the Michael Phelps Whisperer to the media, he can be counted on for insights, such as on Tuesday night after the Baltimore swimmer became the most decorated Olympian ever after winning a gold medal as anchor of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team. Bowman delivered. Often emotionally, sometimes sardonically, he offered wisdom on the eventful night and then took off. But he came back. Oh wait, he said, almost forgetting about his other talking point, Allison Schmitt, gold-medal winner and Olympic record-breaker.

Another day, another shot at a bit of redemption. But this time it may be for Tyler Clary, the swimmer whose public dissing of teammate Michael Phelpscaused a verbal firestorm as the two headed to the Games. Clary was widely viewed as the bad guy after telling his hometown newspaper three weeks ago that Phelps, poised to become perhaps the most decorated Olympian of all time, didn't work hard and was asking to get beaten. And Clary, little-known and headed to his first Olympics compared to Phelps' fourth, said "it would be complete satisfaction" when he did the beating.

Michael Phelps barely slipped into Saturday night's final for the 400-meter individual medley, coming in eighth in the morning preliminary heats that launched the first full day of Olympic competition -- and his own fourth and final Games. "The only thing that matters is to get a spot" in the evening finals, Phelps said of the swim that will put him in a far outside lane, rather than the center to which he has become accustomed. Ryan Lochte came in third, with his much vaunted rivalry with Phelps taking a backseat at least in the morning preliminaries, to swimmers of other countries:Japan'sKosuke Hagine andSouth Africa'sChad leClose came in first and second.

OMAHA, NEB. -- After watching Navy SEALs assault an island of terrorists and then capture a drug smuggler's yacht, Michael Phelps must have viewed his own watery mission as a day at the beach. Phelps bested his own enemies, seven swimmers who would steal a piece of his Olympic action, at the swimming trials here on Thursday night after watching the movie, Act of Valor. The flick stars active member of the elite sea, air and land warriors, known for daring, covert strikes such as the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden.

- The giggler who became the sweetheart of the 1988 Seoul Games, Janet Evans, found her situation this week pretty comical. She was trying, quite in vain as it turned out, to recapture Olympic glory at age 40. "There was a 16-year-old," the three-time gold medalist said of a swimmer two lanes over from her, "closer in age to Syd. " The mother of 5-year-old Sydney and 2-year-old Jake, Evans is not the only swimmer watching time pass...