Last summer, when Michael Phelps dominated the news from the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his record 8 gold medals, who would have possibly guessed that he would still be a celebrity today? In our 24-hour news cycle world, celebrities are made and forgotten seemingly overnight, and really, who cares about competitive swimming, anyways?

Yet, here we are in 2009 still talking about Phelps, and for good reason. Even apart from his escapades on dry land, the guy’s fun to follow and dominant in ways you only see in people like Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan. Yesterday, in a rematch of his amazing come-from-behind gold medal butterfly performance, he once again surged from behind to beat Milorad Cavic to win the 100m butterfly world championship.

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Guess all that needed fitness for past gold medals isn’t so important when the next Olympics is four years away, huh? How else can we explain 14-time gold medalist Michael Phelps toking hard on a bong right in the pages of of the London daily NEWS OF THE WORLD.

The photo leaves little to the imagination. Evidently Phelps likes his ganja, and he likes it in large quantities. He also must not have had any competitions planned for the next, oh, six weeks after this hit, because there was no way he’s passing a drug test before then.

“You could tell Michael had smoked before. He grabbed the bong and a lighter and knew exactly what to do. He looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits. Michael ended up getting a little paranoid, though, because before too long he looked like he was nervous and ran out of the place.”

The photo was reportedly taken in November, which means he could be clean by now. But there are plenty of quotes from reported party-goers that lead one to believe there’s no way he is.

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• Kim Kardashian tells PEOPLE.COM that boyfriend Reggie Bush got a sneak preview of her performance prior to dancing with the Pussycat Dolls Friday night via iChat. Bush approved her moves, outfit and asked her to videotape the show, unfortunately Kim’s videographer Ray J was unavailable.



• Expect a population boom in Italy. THE BIG LEAD informs us that power forward and father of many bastard children Shawn Kemp has struck a deal with Premiata Montegranaro.
• Speedo’s LZR swimsuit is making records shatter and breasts disappear, TIMES ONLINE investigates.
• WTOP attempts to eat the Michael Phelps’ breakfast. Video after the jump.

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Olympic swimmer Dara Torres has been the feel-good story of qualifying so far, making her fifth Olympics at the age of 41 in a sport favoring those in their teens and twenties. But there’s one person who’s not particularly interested or enthralled by her remarkable feat: her ex-husband.

The PALM BEACH POST caught up with West Palm surgeon Itzhak Shasha, and he sounds just a little peeved even answering the most basic questions about his ex-wife.

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With many of the Olympic sports we watch every four years on the TV under scrutiny thanks to Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, and many others, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has introduced blood testing for doping at the Olympic trials for track and field this weekend and will use them for swimmers next week as well, reports the TAMPA TRIBUNE.

Essentially, the agency is trying to catch users of HGH or anything that would enhance oxygen transfer. The article cites blood transfusions and “synthetic hemoglobin” as two of the particular methods that could be detected by the blood test but aren’t through the usual urinalysis.

The top three finishers in each trial will get the testing treatment. Given that the recent tests for EPO aren’t worth a thing, we’ll all just sit and watch with subconscious thoughts of who’s on what designer drug anyway, regardless of what barriers USADA tries to put in place.

American swimmer Natalie Coughlin won two gold medals in the Sydney Olympics four years ago, in addition to a bronze medal in the 100-meter freestyle.

The two-time gold medalist added an American record to her resume yesterday in that event, but then lost the race by nine hundredths of a second. Read more…

WITH LEATHER via HUGGING HAROLD REYNOLDS reels in some snapshots of Michael Phelps donning his latest sensational swimwear:

Last we saw Mike, he was styling in a Speedo body suit. Here’s the get-up, both with and without Photoshop help:

Based on the immediate pic above, the tailfin doesn’t look so bad.

Meet Stephanie Rice, the Australian swimmer who will be fishing for gold this summer in Beijing. And her chances are good, as she recently set new world records at the Australian Olympic trials.

But it’s not all work for Steph. She likes to have a good time away from the pool - and like most young gals, wants to share her fun with the world. So, Ric put up a collection of party photos on her Facebook site, and set them up for public viewing.

However, her generous nature has gotten Rice into hot water with her country’s governing swimming body.

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An Indiana high school swimming coach has been arrested for secretly videotaping girls in the locker room.

The KOKOMO TRIBUNE reports that Kokomo coach Brian Hindson was hauled off by authorities on federal child pornography charges. After searching his home, police removed 65 items from Hindson’s house, including “computer hard drives, monitors, CDs, DVDs, camera equipment and Hindson’s passport.”

Hindson might have gotten away with his perverted actions, had he remembered to clear off his computer drives.

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AMANDA BEARD WILL NOT BE THE BUTT OF YOUR JOKES: TMZ.com has Amanda Beard giving herself a wedgie in front of boyfriend Sacha Brown:

After seeing her most recent commercial, we’ll take the back over the front:

And so will, apparently, B.J.: