You can be sure he got the message. Phelps said he
was awed and humbled at the welcome he received
across Maryland yesterday, his first day home since
winning six gold medals in Athens last month. He
even teared up on the deck of the pool at Loyola
when he heard the cheers and stomps of hundreds of
youngsters.
"I've
been looking forward to this moment for the last two
weeks," said Phelps, who arrived in Baltimore at
4:30 a.m. yesterday and quickly headed to his
Rodgers Forge home. "I was dead tired, but it didn't
matter. I was so excited to be back in Baltimore and
back home.
"I
saw my car. I saw my mom. I saw my cat. I saw my
room."
It
may have been the Olympic champion's only moment of
peace all day. Most everywhere he turned yesterday,
he was mobbed by young girls (and their mothers and
brothers) who wanted his picture and his autograph.
He signed one girl's shirt - while she was wearing
it. He signed another's Speedo swimsuit - while she
wasn't.
"He's
just an amazing swimmer and he's got a lot of
talent," said the Speedo girl, Kristina Gullivan,
15, of Glen Rock, Pa., who left school for the
autograph-signing session at Towson Commons. "And
he's really good-looking."
Also
in line were Natalie Long, 13, her mother Barbara
and several friends. Asked why she wanted to meet
Phelps, Natalie said, "Because of his incredible
talent."
Her
mom raised her eyebrows at that. "She's in looove
with him," she teased.
"Mom!" Natalie screamed. But she couldn't deny it.
Join the club
And,
really, who isn't in love with Michael Phelps? Even
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Baltimore County
Executive Jim Smith got in on the lovefest
yesterday, eating breakfast at Pete's Grille, the
Waverly diner where Phelps devours heart-stopping
meals.
Phelps wasn't there, but O'Malley gave the swimmer a
run for his money in the eating department. In less
than 30 minutes, the mayor put away a Western
omelet, home fries, toast and three blueberry
pancakes.
Atkins who?
Though Phelps lives in Baltimore County, O'Malley
said the city has some claim on him, too. "Michael
Phelps is a metropolitan Renaissance man. He may
live in the county, but he comes into the city to
throw back those 7,000-calorie breakfasts," O'Malley
said.
Phelps made his first appearance of the day at the
Loyola Fitness and Aquatics Center, where 520
Riverview Elementary pupils serenaded him with "We
Are the Champions" while Phelps' mother, Debbie,
danced with Mickey Mouse.
Phelps was joined at
Loyola by
Ian Crocker
and
Lenny Krayzelburg,
fellow Olympic gold medalists and his co-stars in
Disney's "Swim with the Stars" tour, which is
hitting 12 cities this month and next. They all took
questions from the students before demonstrating
strokes and then leading relay teams with nine of
the children.
Some
of the youngsters were apparently overcome by
nerves. One girl couldn't finish her relay leg and
had to be rescued by a lifeguard. Another clung to
the wall before Krayzelburg put the child on his
back and ferried him to the other side.
Finally, the three stars raced each other across the
25-meter pool. Though no official time was kept, it
appeared that Phelps barely out-touched Crocker at
the wall. The nine kids each received a gold medal,
with Phelps himself placing them around their necks
and then taking the children's tiny hands in his
own.
And then the cameras
After
the event, Phelps was mobbed by TV cameras as a
phalanx of publicists and handlers from Disney,
Speedo and his agency, Octagon, looked on. He was
asked what it's like to transform almost overnight
from a relatively anonymous teenager to an
international sports star and world-class hottie.
"It's
been strange all over the country," he said. "We'll
be walking through a mall, and people will do
double-takes and say, 'That's Michael Phelps!' But
if I want to take swimming to the next level, it's
something I'll get used to."
Phelps travels these days not in his beloved
Cadillac Escalade (which he did briefly drive
through the dark streets of Towson early yesterday
morning) but an even bigger vehicle - a giant Disney
tour bus that formerly belonged to magician David
Copperfield. Now it has Mickey painted on the
outside and Playstations inside, where the swimmers
do battle in football and golf video games.
That
is, perhaps, the only venue in which Phelps can now
be beaten.
In
College Park yesterday, hundreds of people lined up
outside the Campus Recreation Center, some as early
as 8 a.m., to get one of the thousand tickets to the
finale of Phelps' long day, Disney's "Swim with the
Stars" exhibition.
Inside, the three swimmers were introduced with
video reels of their greatest moments. Then each
disrobed before the crowd, changing into what the
emcee called their "work clothes." That elicited the
loudest squeals and cheers of the night - and a few
blushes from the swimmers.
Once
in the water, the swimmers demonstrated their
signature strokes for the crowd, composed largely of
young girls in bathing suits, some leaning over
railings to get a closer look and snapping away with
disposable cameras.
Among
them were Jen Markey, an 18-year-old freshman at the
University of Maryland, and three friends, who
painted the letters M-I-K-E on their stomachs, under
their bikini tops.
"You
have to look cute for Michael," Markey said,
clutching a Speedo catalog with a tough-looking,
bare-chested Phelps on the cover. Asked about his
appeal, she said, "He's such a nice guy. He seems
likable. ...
"And
he's hot!"
Sun
correspondent Justin Fenton contributed to this
article.
Click here to see Michael Phelps'
accomplishments
