Phelps' success gives swimming a boost

BALTIMORE — In the wake of Michael Phelps, get ready for a swimming boom. Swim clubs and coaches across the nation say there's been a surge of interest since Phelps began collecting his eight gold medals.

Many clubs take the last two weeks in August off, but at North Baltimore Aquatic Club, where Phelps trained and will return this fall, they've had nearly full morning practices both weeks, NBAC coach John Cadigan said.

"Before Michael Phelps, team sports dominated everything," 14-year-old Will Meadows said at a workout Tuesday. "He brings more people to swimming."

The record-setting swimmer will appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, and in mid-September, he will be on cereal boxes.

Phelps will be returning to Baltimore after the Olympics to resume business talks with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, said Murray Stephens, the organization's founder.

In an interview Monday, Phelps told NBC's "Nightly News" that he and coach Bob Bowman had developed business plans for their return to Baltimore. The two have spent four years in Ann Arbor, Mich., where Bowman served as head men's swimming coach at Michigan.

"Bob and I are starting up a new business back in Baltimore with the pool that we just bought," Phelps said in the interview. "So we're going to make some adjustments and see what we can do to take that sport to the next level."

Those remarks were premature, said Stephens. Nothing is settled yet.

Meanwhile, USA Swimming, the sport's national governing body, typically sees a bump in membership with the Olympics — 5 percent after the 2000 Sydney games, 7.2 percent after the Athens Games.

This time, the group is hoping for an increase of as much as 10 percent over the next year. It currently has 340,000 members

In the Seattle area, the King County Aquatic Center has received more calls than usual since the start of the Olympics, with people interested in swim lessons for children.

Melinda Kennedy, the office manager a swim club in Mission Viejo, Calif., that has produced several Olympians, said interest is also running high there.

"I'm trying to get my work done today and the phone's ringing off the hook," she said.

In Westport, Conn., Ellen Johnston, head coach of the Water Rat Swim Team at the Westport Weston Family Y, estimated they have received 50 to 60 phone calls and e-mails from those interested in the team and swimming, twice the normal number.

"Michael Phelps has taken it to a whole new level," she said.

Seattle Times reporter Jayda Evans contributed to this report.