The Jamaica Star :: Sport :: Catching a wave ❒ Phelps carries swimming to new heights

Michael Phelps swims during a workout at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, on Saturday, July 12. Michael Phelps will compete in eight swimming events at the Beijing Olympics next month. - AP

ATLANTA (AP)

Americans can't seem to go anywhere without seeing Michael Phelps.

The world's best swimmer is on the cover of magazines, advertising everything from credit cards to energy bars on TV, and if you want a behind-the-scenes look at what Phelps was like as a sports-crazy youngster growing up in Baltimore, it's not hard to find footage of his gawky years on the Internet.

Phelps already has taken the record book into uncharted waters.

His impact outside the pool might be even greater.

"Everything changed because of him," fellow swimmer and three-time Olympian Aaron Peirsol said. "Because of Tiger, golf got more recognition. Because of Mike, we're on TV a lot more ... because of him, people are getting to know our sport a lot better."

Swimming didn't start with Phelps, of course.

A notch below athletics

The US-produced stars such as Matt Biondi, Janet Evans and Rowdy Gaines, all of whom captured the country's imagination. But swimming was usually stuck a notch below athletics and gymnastics on America's once-every-four-years radar, and most swimmers had little staying power once the flame was doused.

Although Mark Spitz, who won a record seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games, managed to carve out a prosperous living from his swimming accomplishments, his was a boat largely sailing solo, zipping along atop the waves while everyone else watched from shore.

Now, along comes Phelps, a Spitz for this generation.

Shot at record

In Beijing, the gangly 23-year-old who loves hip hop and tricked-out cars will take another shot at Spitz's iconic record, having come up just short four years ago when he won six gold medals and two bronze in Athens.

In all likelihood, Phelps already has surpassed Spitz when it comes to making money off the butterfly, taking advantage of a rapidly changing media world that those around him - led by his team of agents at Octagon - are eager to explore and exploit.

He has a long list of high-profile sponsors, including Speedo, Visa, PowerBar, Omega, AT&T, Rosetta Stone, Hilton and Kellogg's. (By the way, he doesn't like pickles, so there's no need for Vlasic to make a pitch.) He took part in a much-ballyhooed photo shoot for Vogue that also included LeBron James. He's been out front on several well-known magazines, currently appearing with good friend and rival Ryan Lochte on the cover of Men's Journal. He'll even make a pitch to the good ol' boys when his face is painted on Jeff Burton's car for NASCAR's August 3 race at Pocono, just days before the opening ceremonies in Beijing.

"When you look at this sport 10 years ago," Phelps said, "you never saw swimmers on a magazine cover. It's something I really always wanted."

But Peter Carlisle, who leads the Olympic and action sports division at Octagon, is looking beyond mainstream media to put Phelps before a whole new bloc of potential fans, the Gen Y'ers and Gen Z'ers who hook up at MySpace, surf for videos on YouTube, go to blogs for their news fix.

For this demographic, television and magazines and newspapers are old-fashioned remnants of their parents' generation. Octagon went a different route, launching www.swimroom.com and touting it as the first social networking site for swimmers. There are blogs and instructional videos and, of course, merchandise to buy.

See the future

Carlisle could see the future when he signed Phelps as a 16-year-old. He gave the swimmer's mother, Debbie, a video camera and told her to capture all the behind-the-scenes coverage she could. Now, professional crews tail Phelps and Octagon's other clients, capturing hundreds of hours of video that is catalogued, stored and sure to show up on a DVD or some other moneymaking venture down the road.

"Now, you can buy a high-def camera for next to nothing, then watch high-def videos online," Carlisle said. "All the kids are doing that. It becomes a great connector to the general public. There's a huge market out there, and if you want to promote swimming, it's that much easier."

Step further

After Beijing, he wants to take it a step further. Instead of the cross-country bus tour that Phelps and several of his teammates went on four years ago, Carlisle envisions a high-tech 'Swimming With The Stars' that wouldn't require so much travel and could reach even more kids.

"The tour becomes less bricks and mortar, so to speak, less driving on asphalt to get to real buildings," the agent said. "That was a hell of a lot of work. Those guys were exhausted when it was over. If we can connect with more people in a more efficient way, that would be a huge victory. I'm confident we can. We're working on some really cool concepts."

For those who cover the sport through more traditional means, Carlisle's strategy is a bit unnerving. He can simply take Phelps' message straight to the public without the scrutiny of a reporter asking potentially tough questions, or following up when the swimmer doesn't provide a straight answer.

Tight leash

Already, some media members grumble quietly about the tight leash Phelps' handlers - the folks at Octagon and coach Bob Bowman - keep on him. Some have even quipped that when Phelps speaks, often in cliches ("I can't worry about eight gold medals until I win the first) and generalities ("I just wanted to get in the water and race"), you can barely see Carlisle and Bowman moving their lips.

But Team Phelps knows he can't be treated like any other swimmer, just as Woods isn't going to just stop by the ropes to sign autographs or agree to every interview request that comes his way.