Phelps dropped the 200-meter freestyle from his Olympic program Monday, which means he will swim seven events in London and won’t try to duplicate his otherworldly eight gold medals in eight events in Beijing.
“So you won’t hear the number eight again,” said a smiling Bob Bowman, Phelps’ longtime coach, who announced the change. “It just makes sense. Nobody should be expected to do that twice. Once was more than enough. Trust me.”
Other swimmers are over the moon by this, since this means that Ricky Berens now qualifies for the individual event, and Davis Tarwater qualifies for the men’s 4×200 freestyle. See for instance knoxnews.com.
Best Monday EVER! RT @TwitterSports: Good way to start your Monday @RickyBerens?? one way to get your #Olympics news https://t.co/IedeiBPX
— Ricky Berens (@RickyBerens) July 2, 2012
This has been the best twitter check of my life!!! Davis Tarwater is an Olympian!!! And I'm now tearing up #swimtrials2012
— Christine Magnuson (@cmagsflyer) July 2, 2012
