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Michael Phelps 'everywhere'
30/08/2008 11:13 - (SA)
Lake Buena Vista - Michael Phelps and his eight gold medals are everywhere these days.
The swimmer celebrated his record-breaking haul from the Beijing Games with a parade on Friday at Walt Disney World in Florida and is going to be one of the 150 Olympians on the TV season premiere of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Disney spokesperson Gary Buchanan said Phelps rode through the Magic Kingdom with Mickey Mouse in a red convertible as part of the "America's Homecoming Parade" at the park. Phelps was also honoured with Disney parades after the 2004 Athens Games.
The 23-year-old has been busy since Beijing. He has announced he'll write a book about his road to Olympic history, and will be a presenter at the 2008 Video Music Awards in September.
On Thursday, Phelps was in New York City, filming a cameo for the HBO series Entourage.
Element of luck
On Wednesday, he'll join 150 other US Olympic team members - including Nastia Liukin and Kobe Bryant - in taping Winfrey's show at Chicago's Millennium Park.
Winfrey intends the show, which will air on September 8, to be a "welcome home celebration" and a chance to showcase Chicago as the city bids for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
All the attention Phelps is getting isn't sitting well with at least one competitor.
Australian swimmer Eamon Sullivan said Phelps was helped to his historic accomplishment by rivals' mistakes.
Sullivan, who broke the world 100m freestyle record in the semifinals at Beijing but finished second in the final, said Phelps was able to break Mark Spitz's record of seven golds at one Olympics through good fortune and some small errors by rivals.
"There was an element of luck," Sullivan said. "I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, I'm saying he did everything he could do to win those golds and he came away with it, but at the same time there were little mistakes by other people that allowed him to do that."
Phelps came from behind to beat Serbia's Milorad Cavic by 0.01 seconds in the 100m butterfly final and needed an outstanding swim by anchorman Jason Lezak to win gold in the 400 freestyle relay.
Sullivan expects to clash with Phelps in the 50 and 100 freestyles at next year's world championships and warned the American of stiffer competition ahead.
"He better bring his A-game because us sprint boys are a different league and we are not going to go easy on him."
- SAPA
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