Allison Schmitt

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.

Missy Franklin and Elizabeth Beisel were the top two finishers in the 200-meter backstroke Sunday, earning spots on the Olympic team. Former North Baltimore Aquatic Club swimmer Elizabeth Pelton came in third. "You don't really swim to get to third," a dejected Pelton said. Her family, who moved from Connecticut to the Baltimore area for her to swim at NBAC, were in the stands. She has been training in Naples with her former NBAC coach, Paul Yetter, and is headed to Cal-Berkeley in the fall.

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.

She's still the giggler who charmed as the sweetheart of the 1988 Seoul Games. But now, what has the 40-year-old Janet Evans laughing is her age -- or rather, that of her competition. "There was a 16-year-old," the three-time gold medalist said, her eyes widening at the youth of a swimmer two lanes over from her. She's "closer in age to Syd," she said, referring to her 5-year-old daughter. Evans, attempting an unlikely comeback after about 15 years away from competition, is not the only swimmer watching time pass before her eyes at the qualifying trials for the team that will go to 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.

If Michael Phelps is going to come in second to Ryan Lochte, as he did again Tuesday night, he may find some comfort in the whisper of this particular margin: the Baltimore swimmer finished .02 seconds behind his rival in their semifinal heat in the 200-meter freestyle. The two, who are battling for swimming supremacy at the Olympic qualifying trials , faceoff in the finals Wednesday night that will decide which two swimmers will go on to compete in the event in London. "At this point right now, it's about getting spots on the team," said Phelps after the heat.

Previewing what he might swim in his final Olympics in London, Michael Phelps has entered seven races in next week's qualifying trials — including the exciting but exhausting 400-meter individual medley. The question of how the Baltimore swimmer would cap off his already golden Olympic career this summer has been the subject of much speculation. His entry list for the swimming trials, which begin in Omaha, Neb., on Monday, at least partially answers that: The 200- and 400-meter individual medleys, the 100- and 200-meter butterflys, the 100- and 200-meter freestyles and the 200-meter backstroke.

This Baltimore swimmer hopes to add to an already heavy stash of medals in London this summer. But in addition to training for the qualifying trials in June, there are multiple promotional demands of an Olympic year: modeling the Ralph Lauren-designed athletes attire, shooting commercials for sponsors such as Coke and speaking at media roundtables like the one held here Sunday. It's no wonder that sometimes, you just want to go and get a pretty manicure. "I call them my 'me' dates.