Swimming

A longtime coach at the Baltimore swim club that has turned out several Olympians — including Michael Phelps — resigned after an allegation of "inappropriate conduct" with a female athlete was revealed, officials of the sport's national governing body said Friday. The North Baltimore Aquatic Club reported the coach, who was not identified, to swimming authorities in October 2011, according to USA Swimming, the Colorado-based governing body. The coach was forced out of the position within 48 hours after club officials became aware of the allegation last fall, and the club contacted Baltimore County authorities, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

On the first mile of her three-mile swim Sunday morning, Susan Spencer concentrated on the 25 names written in black marker on her right arm - those of friends and family members who had succumbed to cancer. On her second lap, the Baltimore lawyer reflected on the 14 names of cancer survivors or those in remission scrawled on her left arm. For the final mile, Spencer, 61, said she thought of "everyone and anyone affected by the disease. " She was not alone. In the cove off Gibson Island or in the pool at Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center in North Baltimore, more than 500 swimmers participated in Swim Across America, Baltimore edition, to raise money for the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

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.

Paralympics Long, Snyder win swimming gold medals U.S. swimmer Jessica Long , formerly of Middle River, won her second gold medal at the London Paralympic Games and the ninth of her career by successfully defending her 400-meter freestyle S8 title Friday. Long, 20, who had both lower legs amputated before age 2, won by 18.22 seconds, finishing in 4 minutes, 42.28 seconds, and lowering her world mark set in June by 1.89 seconds. "What I always like to say is I swam my heart out and I can honestly say I swam my heart out and I gave it everything I had," said Long, who now lives and trains in Colorado.

They streamed into the Speedo-sponsored party, world-class athletes set free after four years of training and one week of competing on their sport's biggest stage. Now that their Olympics were over, swimmers from around the world would spend this night letting go. "Most of 'em looked like they were headed off to some disco party," said Evan Morgenstein, an agent for 13 current Olympians. "But not Michael Phelps . He comes in wearing a blazer, looking fresh. He went right to the corporate heads, greeted them.

Gov.Martin O'Malley was out early Friday morning, meeting with large House delegations in his efforts to win passage of his gambling-expansion bill as a special session of the General Assembly moved into its second day. The governor met this morning with the Prince George's and Montgomery county delegations amid signs that his efforts and those of legislative leaders were fallling into place. Asked how he assessed the bill's prospects, an ebullient O'Malley said: "I think they're going swimmingly.

The Roger Carter Seals sent 18 swimmers to the Bel Air Swim and Racquet Club July 28 to compete in the Prince-Mont Swim League All Stars meet. To qualify, swimmers either had to win the final heat at Divisionals or post one of the top 18 times in a stroke or relay during league competition. The Prince-Mont Swim League contains eight divisions with 40 teams. Seal swimmers who qualified were Jocelyn Choo, Ethan Doan, Mason Doan, Tien Doan, Hannah Green, Zach Grissom, Kevin Hu, Shannon Hochkeppel, Troy Hochkeppel, Anand Iyer, Andrew Li, Anna Li, Maria Liu, Katherine Joseph, Dillon Phamdo, Trueman Phamdo, Jeffrey Tse, Ashley Wong, Joseph Wong, Emily Xu, Hannah Zhang and Sarah Zhang.

While Olympic swimmers in London have the eyes of the world upon them this week, the young boys and girls of the Columbia Neighborhood Swim League put on a competitive meet of their own in the annual All-City championship meet July 27 and 28, at the Phelps Luck Pool. The meet featured five record-breaking performances, including the besting of a 23-year-old mark. Phelps Luck's Casey West won the 15-18 girls' 50-yard fly in 27.06, breaking the previous record of 27.18 set by Owen Brown's Jennifer Atkins in 1989.

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.

Juggling congratulatory phone calls from President Obama and tweets from supermodel Bar Refaeli, the most decorated Olympian ever still got the job done in the pool: Michael Phelpsswam to a second-seed finish in the 100-meter butterfly preliminaries Thursday morning. It was a nostalgic moment for Phelps as he winds down his fourth and final Games here on Saturday. "This was my last prelim heat ever," he said after coming in second overall to Chad le Clos, the young South African swimmer who grew up idolizing him and won gold to Phelps' silver in Tuesday night's 200-meter butterfly.