Phelps wins on return, may get worlds invite
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OLYMPIC legend Michael Phelps beat his longtime rival Ryan Lochte in his return from a six month ban and found out he could get a special invitation to the world championships.
The 29-year-old Phelps, suspended by USA Swimming after a drunk-driving arrest in September, won the 100m butterfly at the Mesa Pro Series meeting in Phoenix on Thursday as he targets a place at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next year. The winner of a record 18 Olympic gold medals clocked 52.38sec to beat Lochte by 0.33sec and said he was just happy to be competing again after the controversy.
“It does feel good to be back,” said Phelps, who last competed at the Pan Pacific Championships in August.
Phelps was excluded from the US team for the world championships in Kazan, Russia, in July after his ban. But world body FINA said it wanted to give him a special invitation to the event.
“FINA has proposed inviting Michael Phelps as a special guest because of his exceptional sporting career,” the federation's executive director Cornel Marculescu said.
“USA Swimming is responsible for entering its athletes for the world championships and we have not spoken with them,” the official added. “This is news to me,” Phelps said when told of the plan. “I’m here to swim here right now, and that’s what I'm focused on. I don't know what to expect in the future.”
Earlier this week, Phelps said missing the world championships would be “painful” but he did not want to cost another American a place on the team.
There was plenty of support for Phelps as he strode to the blocks in one of the new Xpresso racing suits that he helped design. “It's amazing just to be in this environment again,” said Phelps.
Phelps’s time on Thursday night did not put him in the top 10 in the world this year in the 100m fly, an event he has won at three Olympics. But he and coach Bob Bowman said the time was a good starting point from which to build as he eyes a fifth Olympics next year. “First race back, it’s OK,” Phelps said. “Hopefully we'll be able to build and build.”
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