Associated Press
CHULA VISTA, Calif. ó Michael Phelps woke up four Sundays ago and decided he wanted to keep swimming.
He still had the desire ó although he said 2012 will be his last Olympics ó and all the scrutiny over the photo of him inhaling from a marijuana pipe hadn’t taken away his motivation.
“Actually I’ve been talking to some other athletes about it, too,” Phelps said Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. “There’s some athletes who have had problems and I’ve been able to sort of get their side on it and how they’ve handled it.
“It’s all really about what’s in your heart, and that’s why I’m back in the pool,” said Phelps, who sat next to coach Bob Bowman, with a large American flag hanging above them on a wall. “If it wasn’t in my heart, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be out here, I wouldn’t be training. Who knows what I’d be doing. But I wouldn’t be doing this right now.”
Phelps and several other Americans are in the middle of a two-week training camp for this summer’s national and world championships. They’re in the pool twice a day, at 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., and spent part of one day training with U.S. Navy SEALs.
GOLF
PALM HARBOR, Fla. ó Two weeks after turning 50, former Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman looked like his old self Saturday in the Transitions Championship with a 3-under 68 for his first 54-hole lead in more than four years.
– HUIXQUILUCAN, Mexico ó Taiwan’s Yani Tseng shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday for a share of the second-round lead with South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi in the Mastercard Classic, leaving top-ranked Mexican star Lorena Ochoa a stroke back.
TENNIS
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. ó Rafael Nadal edged Andy Roddick 6-4, 7-6 (4) Saturday to move into the BNP Paribas final.
No. 1 Nadal, constantly powering his forehand into the corner to Roddick’s backhand, ended several long rallies by passing Roddick with a shot down the line when the American came to the net.
Nadal, the 2007 Indian Wells champion, improved to 5-2 against the seventh-ranked Roddick.
NFL
RICHMOND, Va. ó The Detroit Lions will retire the number 93 for the 2009 football season in memory of player Corey Smith, one of three men lost when their fishing boat capsized off the Florida Gulf Coast three weeks ago.
Lions player development director Galen Duncan told several hundred mourners in Smith’s hometown church Saturday that Smith’s number would be retired for a year in honor of a player of extraordinary heart and competitive drive.
– MIAMI ó Authorities have yet to release blood tests for Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth, who authorities say fatally struck a pedestrian in Miami Beach a week ago.
Meanwhile, his attorney is denying media reports that the tests show Stallworth was driving drunk. no one has leased the results of toxicology tests.
BOXING
STUTTGART, Germany ó Vitali Klitschko has retained the WBC heavyweight title by stopping Juan Carlos Gomez in the ninth round on Saturday night.
The 37-year-old Klitschko improved his career record to 37-2 (36 KOs), his last loss coming to Lennox Lewis in June 2003.