Phelps faces elite field in 200-meter freestyle

ATHENS -- At the Summer Olympics, the focus has been on Michael Phelps. But despite his greatness, it comes down to a simple fact tonight in one of the games' most anticipated events -- the 200-meter freestyle.

Phelps, 19, is racing in the weakest of his five individual events against one of the best fields ever assembled.

The swimmer who is trying to win seven gold medals and tie Mark Spitz's record for victories at one Olympics finds himself in a difficult situation. The swimmers in the field have nine Olympic and 23 world titles.

No one is more distinguished than Australian Ian Thorpe, the star of the 2000 Games and winner of the 400 freestyle Saturday.

"I think Pieter van den Hoogenband will swim very well," Thorpe said of his Dutch rival. "I think Grant (Hackett) will swim very fast as well. It's a star lineup. It's as simple as that."

Phelps of Baltimore had planned to swim five individual races and three relays in hopes of surpassing Spitz. That goal became impossible Sunday after the U.S. 400 freestyle relay finished third. Tonight, the talk of seven might end as well.

"Michael is one of the most talented athletes we have seen," Thorpe, 21, told the Baltimore Sun. "I'm very supportive of his quest to achieve seven gold medals. I think the risk there is, is that anything short of that will be deemed a failure. I don't want to see that happen."

Van den Hoogenband, the defending Olympic 200 champion, led the qualifiers Sunday with a time of 1 minute, 46 seconds, almost two seconds slower than Thorpe's world record. Thorpe was 0.65 of a second behind, followed by Phelps and U.S. teammate Klete Keller. Hackett, the defending 1,500 gold medalist, qualified fifth.

Phelps owns the U.S. record of 1:45.99. The only time he has faced Thorpe was in the 200 individual medley at last year's world championships.

Phelps won with a world-record time of 1:55.94.

"The seven gold-medal quest isn't his," U.S. coach Eddie Reese said. "He wants to swim the 200 for the right reasons. He wants to race Ian Thorpe, which not many in their right mind would want to do."

Phelps' two performances Sunday were solid; in addition to qualifying third in the 200 freestyle, he had a split of 48.74 in his leg of the freestyle relay. But there was nothing to signal a breakthrough.

After a lackluster finish in the 400 freestyle Saturday, Thorpe was three seconds off his world-record pace in winning the gold medal. He promised a faster race tonight. Although he has set the 200 world record six times, Thorpe probably will need his best effort to win.