Phelps loses his first major swim competition in 4 years.

[Liberal_in_LA]

Michael Phelps upset in world championships

Germany's Paul Biedermann wins the 200 freestyle in record time -- besting Phelps' former world record -- to hand the American swimmer his first major individual loss in four years.
By Lisa Dillman
10:28 AM PDT, July 28, 2009

Shockingly, it was Olympic swim star Michael Phelps who was left in Biedermann's powerful wake today at the world swimming championships at the Foro Italico sports complex. Biedermann, of Germany, not only beat Phelps in a convincing manner, but he took away Phelps' world record in the 200-meter freestyle.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-world-swimming29-2009jul29,0,6443348.story

[mikelgb]

1. must be all that weed he smokes

he is only second best now

see kids...

[Merlot]

2. Becasue of course, he never smoked pot BEFORE he won all the golds

[liberal N proud]

7. Could be because he stopped smoking weed

[JonLP24]

21. Meanwhile earlier this month, he broke another world record in the 100m butterfly

He came in 2nd in how many races he did he come in 2nd this summer? Or better question how many races did the guy who came in first this summer? Phelps is still the best.

[joeybee12]

3. First Miss Kal-ugh-fornia goes down, now Phelps...

she's poison, he shouldn't have hung around with her...there are plenty other drunken *******s out there.

[petronius]

26. She went down!? But I thought...

never mind. ;)

[JuniperLea]

4. Uh oh... now The Weed will be considered...

A performance enhancing drug!

[ColbertWatcher]

5. Could it be that the other guy had a great race? n/t

[Captain Hilts]

24. He wore a high tech suit that Phelps and the guy who came in 3rd were not wearing. nt

[BlooInBloo]

6. (shrug) It happens.

[Bobbie Jo]

8. ** ..and I know why...**

because I got high, because I got high, because I got hi--igh...do di do do do do. :smoke:

[marmar]

9. Give that man back his Indo......

:smoke:

[CatWoman]

10. maybe now he'll put some clothes on

his swimwear looks positively tacky -- too revealing.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. like this?

or this:

[tblue37]

17. This is what a revealing swimsuit looks like:

American Ricky Berens:

[Holly_Hobby]

12. Phelps was wearing "old technology" swimsuit

...

To say Biedermann came out of nowhere would be hyperbole, but his emergence at these championships was certainly unexpected. After finishing 5th in the 200 at the Olympics and not qualifying for the finals in the 400, Biedermann is now a double world champion. And he isn't shy about attributing much of his success to the Arena X-Glide suit that he says improves his time by two seconds.

Phelps was wearing the once-revolutionary Speedo LZR, which has now been far surpassed by the buoyancy and stability of the new polyurethane-based Arena and Jaked suits. FINA has banned those suits from competition starting next year, a necessary move, but one that comes too late to stop the world record binge in Rome. Because the suit will be widely credited for Biedermann's victory, the loss isn't crushing for Phelps. Phelps' worldwide reputation is based on Olympics, not world championships. Earning a silver is a bitter pill to swallow, but maybe a beneficial one for the greatest swimming champion of all-time. At least he's not in danger of getting complacent.

Plus, with the playing field leveled next year in terms of suit technology, Phelps will once again become the favorite in this race. No disrespect to Biedermann, but it's not a stretch to say that if everyone swam in those old-school Mark Spitz briefs, Michael Phelps' win streak would still be alive.

Update: After the race, Phelps made his strongest statement yet about the suit controversy. When asked by NBC's Andrea Kremer about his "inferior suit", Phelps declined to take a direct shot at Biedermann but said, "I will say that next year swimming will be swimming again. You're going to have to do all the work and there's not going to be a suit that does it for you."

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Down-goes-Michael-Phelps-beat-in-200m-free-fir?urn=oly,179248

[Ilsa]

13. Even Biedermann said the suit made a huge difference. nt

[Toasterlad]

14. At Least He Didn't Blow the Ass Out of His Suit Like His Poor Teammate.

[dysfunctional press]

15. seeing as that reply is worthless without a picture...

[Toasterlad]

16. Thanks! I Was Too Lazy To Find the Link.

[tblue37]

18. Your picture is better than the one I posted above of the same situation. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. OMG!

[TheKentuckian]

20. Now we see the negative ramifications of going weedless

[Onceuponalife]

22. We can rec in the sports forum now?

wut?

First *boy gets tombstoned and we can rec?

[JonLP24]

23. This was in General Discussion

I posted in this thread right before it was moved. (See post #21)

It was in GD then moved here by the mods which explains the recommends.

[H2O Man]

25. Marijuana Flash-backs

kill thousands of Olympic swimmers each year.