Olympic Capsules: Phelps ready for 1st race since Beijing

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Michael Phelps has arrived in North Carolina for his first meet since his record triumph at the Beijing Olympics.

He is coming off a three-month suspension resulting from a picture showing him with a marijuana pipe. Phelps is pointing toward the 2012 Olympics and plans to retire after the London Games.

He will compete in five events at the Charlotte Ultraswim beginning Friday: the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. Only two of those events - the 200 free and 100 fly - were on his program in Beijing, where he won eight gold medals.

His return has drawn media from France, Britain and Japan for a meet that would normally attract little attention during a non-Olympic year.

Peirsol ready to take on Phelps in 100 backstroke

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Aaron Peirsol can't remember the last time he lost in a final of the 100-meter backstroke.

He thinks it was 2002. Maybe ‘03.

Whatever the case, Peirsol appears to have an intriguing new rival in his signature event.

Michael Phelps.

The winningest Olympian is planning to try out some new events as he looks ahead to 2012, a plan that puts him on a collision course with Peirsol, world record-holder in the 100 back and winner of the event at both the Athens and Beijing games.

"Mike will do well, no doubt about it," Peirsol told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home in Austin, Texas. "He's already been very, very fast and he hasn't even scratched the surface of his potential in that event."

Peirsol isn't backing down from the challenge, however. In fact, he welcomes the chance to go against the world's greatest swimmer - and perhaps be one of the few to beat him on the Olympic stage. Others are closing fast, too, including Japan's Ryosuke Irie, who nearly broke Peirsol's record of 52.54 at a meet in Australia on Sunday.

"I welcome the competition," Peirsol said. "For a long time, it's been kind of stagnant in that event. I need it. I think it's going to help me. It would be much more fulfilling to win against those guys than to win by a couple of seconds."

The two American stars are set to go head-to-head at the Charlotte Ultraswim, which begins Thursday and will be Phelps' first meet since he won eight gold medals in Beijing, breaking Mark Spitz's Holy Grail of Olympic records.

The event is drawing much more attention than usual in this non-Olympic year, largely because of Phelps' out-of-the-pool troubles. A picture of him inhaling from a marijuana pipe while attending a party in not-so-far-away South Carolina landed on the cover of a British tabloid, prompting USA Swimming to hand down a three-month suspension from competition.

The ban ended last week, and Phelps will be back in the pool for the first of three meets he plans to swim leading into the national championships in early July and the world championships in Rome later that month. In addition to the 100 backstroke, he's also entered in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, as well as the 100 butterfly.

Peirsol will be swimming his two signature events, the 100 and 200 back, as well as a few other races just for fun. This will be the first meet the 25-year-old California native has fully trained for since Beijing, which puts him on an even keel with Phelps. (Peirsol did compete at Austin in March, but he wasn't in top shape and only took part because it was in his adopted home.)

"This was by far the longest break of my career," said Peirsol, who planned to arrive in Charlotte on Thursday, a day ahead of his first race. "Probably the most amazing thing about a break like that was just laying in bed and staring at the ceiling for an hour with nothing to do."

Peirsol knew he wanted to return to swimming after Beijing, but he wasn't sure if it would make financial sense to keep going all the way to the 2012 Olympics. That uncertainty was removed when he landed a contract with European-based swimsuit maker Arena, which hopes to re-establish its presence in the highly-lucrative U.S. market.

Arena, once a major player on this side of the Atlantic with American stars like Spitz and Matt Biondi, planned to formally announce the deal Thursday.

"There's some really, really good swimmers struggling to find a way to keep going the next few years financially," Peirsol said. "Arena is a company that left in the mid-90s, but now they've decided to come back into the U.S. market. Actually, it was completely out of the blue. I was surprised they wanted to work with me."

As part of the deal, Peirsol plans to train overseas at least one month out of the year, perhaps in a country where swimming needs a little boost. He also looks forward to working with fellow Arena athletes like France's Alain Bernard, Brazil's Cesar Cielo and Serbia's Milorad Cavic, who nearly upset Phelps' record-breaking haul in China.

"After many years, our elite team once again sees the participation of a big star of American swimming," said Cristiano Portas, CEO of Arena. "It's difficult to say something that hasn't already been said about Aaron, but I can't make a secret of how much of an impression he made on us."

Peirsol is sure glad to have a swimsuit deal after the uncertainty of 2008. He had a contract with Nike, but wound up switching to Speedo just before the Olympic trials when it became apparent the rival company had a much faster suit, the LZR Racer.

Nike bowed out of the competitive swimsuit business after that embarrassment, but plenty of other companies have stepped in since the Olympics.

Some 20 firms are vying to get suits approved by FINA in time for this year's worlds, amid complaints that some are even more buoyant than the LZR, leading to faster times and another assault on the record book. Eighteen world records have been broken this year, an unusually high number coming off an Olympics. And that follows a staggering 108 marks falling in 2008, mostly by swimmers wearing the Speedo suit.

"We're all just trying to figure out what our goal times for this year should be," said Peirsol, who expects his 100 back record to crumble before the year is out and eventually push as low as 51 seconds. "Some of the times that we thought were so incredibly fast, people are swimming them so easy and coming out of nowhere to do it.

"It makes you kind of uneasy. It makes a lot of us feel like some of those records were kind of unfair."

-- Paul Newberry

IOC urges steady pace for 2014 Sochi Games

SOCHI, Russia - A top International Olympic Committee official says any construction delays could threaten Russia's ambitious plans for the 2014 Winter Games in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin assured the IOC on Thursday that construction and financing are on schedule.

Jean-Claude Killy, the French Olympic ski great who heads the IOC panel overseeing the Sochi Games, urged organizers to keep work at a steady pace.

"Time is not a luxury that we have to play with on this project," Killy said Thursday as he wrapped up the second major visit by the IOC coordination panel since Sochi was awarded the games in July 2007.

"The Sochi team must therefore ensure that it makes its decisions in a timely manner, so as to maintain its ambitious schedule," he said at a news conference.

Putin, dining later with the visitors, assured them that all is well.

"We have said more than once that no matter what the difficulties, the necessary resources would be issued in full and on time - and this is what is happening," Putin said, according to state-run RIA-Novosti and ITAR-Tass.

Most of the venues for Russia's first Winter Olympics are being built from scratch, including the seaside site that is to include ice arenas, a ceremonial stadium and the main Olympic Village. Another major project is a new road and rail link from the shore to the mountains inland at Krasnaya Polyana, where snow sport events will be held.

"We must not underestimate the size and complexity of what our Russian friends will achieve here," Killy said.

Putin said construction is proceeding as planned.

"I want to stress: We are getting this done. Moreover, the construction of some facilities is ahead of schedule," the Russian news agencies quoted him as saying.

Russia's Olympic plans have faced opposition from environmentalists and Sochi residents who will be evicted from their homes to make way for the games. Critics also have said the Olympics will leave the balmy resort city with unneeded ice venues.

Putin acknowledged that criticism, saying that "five ice arenas on the Black Sea shore is an excessive amount."

In televised remarks, he suggested dismantling three of them after the games and moving them to other Russian cities "with the aim of developing winter sports and popularizing the Olympic movement."

Killy said proposed project design will make travel between the venues far easier than in previous games.

"These games are going to be probably the most compact games ever, which means that going from one end to another will take 35 minutes," he said.

Killy said he may return to Sochi on a private visit in six weeks to monitor the progress of building work for the Olympics, whose overall budget is estimated at $13 billion.

He and other panel members spent two days mostly hearing progress reports from Sochi organizers.

When Sochi was awarded the games following a push strongly supported by Putin, then president, Russia was still riding high on the crest of an eight-year oil-fueled boom.

Since then, oil prices have plummeted and caused Russia's economy to shrink for the first time in nearly a decade, slowing the construction industry and cutting deep into the fortunes of Kremlin-friendly tycoons who are footing part of the bill.

But Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who is overseeing Sochi preparations, also said construction of Olympic facilities is on course.

"This allows us to say confidently that both the sports facilities and infrastructure necessary for the competition will be built on time, and most facilities will be completed by 2012," Kozak said at the news conference.

-- Oksana Ivankova

WADA to explain retro doping tests to EU officials

ATHENS, Greece - The World Anti-Doping Agency will explain its methods of retrospective testing to European Union officials as part of an ongoing debate over privacy issues.

WADA vice chairman Arne Ljungqvist said discussions would focus on the eight-year statute of limitation that allows testers to keep frozen samples of athletes' blood and urine for reanalysis when new detection methods become available.

"I know that this is one of the matters that the European Union wishes to discuss with us," Ljungqvist said.

Ljungqvist is attending an anti-doping conference in Athens, organized by the European Union, that ends Friday.

Retro testing has boosted WADA's ability to catch drug cheats using scientific advances that may not have existed when the competition took place.

Last month, the International Olympic Committee announced that six athletes had been caught using the new blood-boosting hormone CERA in retests of their samples from the Beijing Olympics.

"CERA (testing) occurred just after the games, but other methods may take two, four or even eight years to develop," said Ljungqvist, who is also chairman of the IOC medical commission.

"So this eight-year statute of limitation is very important ... It's a very, very strong message that says: Don't do this, you will be identified. ... The possibility should make those who might cheat to think again: You may be caught, if not today, them tomorrow."

WADA introduced tougher testing guidelines this year that oblige more athletes to declare their whereabouts each day of the year - raising problems with the European Union over its privacy laws.

The anti-doping body amended its code this month to satisfy the EU, but Ljungqvist said the changes made no practical difference to testing procedures.

"What we are doing needs to be phrased in a particular way to satisfy the legal community," he said. "That is we could easily accept the amendments that were proposed because they did not in any way disturb our anti-doping activities."

The Swedish medical expert said the new rules inevitably met objections from athletes not used to rigorous testing, but conceded the agency may not have presented its case well to the public.

The new rules also require athletes to detail their whereabouts for an hour of each day to allow out-of-competition testing.

"I think what has been misunderstood, and perhaps we have not been so clever in explaining, is that this one-hour slot is not making (rules) more strict," he said. "But it gives athletes the opportunity to say at least then, they will be there.

"If you look at it, (complaints) mostly come from athletes who are not used to having out-of-competition tests. That's the sad fact."

-- Derek Gatopoulos

Miller to keep skiing; won't commit to Vancouver

MAYRHOFEN IM ZILLERTAL, Austria - Bode Miller plans to ski next season but won't commit to the Vancouver Olympics.

The two-time overall World Cup winner disclosed his plans to his ski manufacturer Thursday during a long meeting on the Kaprun glacier. Miller skipped the final four stops of the last season to spend time with his 1-year-old daughter and said he was considering retirement.

"He's planning to continue," Head's racing director Rainer Salzgeber told The Associated Press. "I wouldn't have been surprised if he had told us he was taking the year off. But he said, ‘No, I don't want to do that."'

Miller declined comment when contacted by the AP.

"I'm not going to talk about it. I don't have much faith in the media," he said. "Why don't you just skip that part of the story and write whatever you want to write because that's what you guys do anyway."

The highlight of next season is the Vancouver Games, but Miller would not give Salzgeber an answer concerning the Olympics.

"That's the same thing I asked him, and he said, ‘I'm not focusing on that,"' Salzgeber said. "It would be a big surprise if he stops, although the Bahamas are nice that time of year, and you never know with him."

If he does skip the Olympics, Miller will lose a bundle of cash from Head. Salzgeber wouldn't provide details, but said, "It does change the money." Head is Miller's biggest source of income.

The New Hampshire skier told Head he intends to race without coaches and he will skip summer training.

"He wants to have everything in his own responsibility. Not having any coaches leaves him a little more room," said Salzgeber, adding he could personally aid Miller by setting courses for training.

Miller broke away from the U.S. team two years ago to train and race on his own. His personal coach from last season, Forest Carey, has been hired as the head coach of the U.S. men's Europa Cup team.

Miller told Carey last month that he had decided to quit.

"He told me straight up he's done unless he needs more money," Carey told the AP from Mexico. "He's usually pretty good with his word, but everyone with a lot of money has lost a lot lately.

"Even guys like Tiger Woods don't have coaches with them all the time," Carey added. "I guess it's not a surprise. Bode thinks he can do it on his own."

Carey believes Miller won't focus on all four events.

"There's no way. No one is that good," said Carey, who has known Miller since they skied in high school at the Carrabassett Valley Academy in Maine. "But if he just focuses on slalom and downhill, he can do pretty good. It's a new challenge and when he's motivated, he's good."

Miller might not train on snow again until September or October. The season begins Oct. 25 in Soelden, and Salzgeber said Miller wants to start there.

"He has a pretty good dry-land training program, and he looks quite good right now," Salzgeber said.

Retiring U.S. Alpine director Jesse Hunt said it would be a challenge for Miller to stay sharp if he doesn't train on snow all summer.

"Bode's a pretty amazing talent. Certainly if he stays physically fit you can't ever count him out. Although obviously, he struggled with that last season," said Hunt, referring to an ankle injury that slowed Miller. "But on the other side, he's got a lot of miles in and he knows what it takes to win."

Miller cut last season short when he failed to win a medal at the world championships in Val d'Isere, France, in February. It was the third consecutive major championship where Miller failed to medal. The streak began at the 2006 Turin Olympics, where Miller gained more headlines for his late-night partying than his skiing.

By setting his coaches free, Miller allows for the possibility of changing his mind at the last minute, but Salzgeber said the American was excited about testing new skis.

"I could feel it in the discussion. He's really into it and he wants to push it on the materials side," Salzgeber said. "But everybody who knows Bode could imagine he changes his mind."

Miller's contract with Head lasts through the 2011-2012 season. Salzgeber said the company would not terminate the contract if Miller decides to quit.

"For us, it's not a big deal," Salzgeber said. "He will continue to test for us either way."

-- Andrew Dampf