FanHouse Swimming

Remember those days when you'd get out of the pool after a refreshing swim, lay back and just want to paint your fingernails? Well, if you're on the Japanese National Swim Team, that ain't happening, along with a bunch of other ridiculous rules that makes swimming look more like joining the military.

Apparently, the Michael Phelps smoking pot thing has freaked out the Japanese, and they are taking the "overly involved parental role," banning dyed hair, earrings and excessive fingernail painting, whatever that means. And, of course, they're being stricter on pot, naturally.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Michael Phelps was driving an SUV that collided with another car in Baltimore Thursday night, but the Olympic gold medal swimmer was not injured, police said.

The female driver of a Honda Accord was "shaken up" and taken to a local hospital as a precaution, police said. Two passengers in Phelps' Cadillac Escalade were not injured, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

The great white shark from Baltimore, Michael Phelps, collects gold medals -- eight at the most recent Olympics, five at the world championships. In fact, he has just become the first swimmer in history to complete 100M butterfly in under 50 seconds (49.82 seconds). You would think that nothing could rattle him, but, as you'll hear from Cullen Jones and Garrett Weber-Gale, when Phelps is around his US Swim team he does not sleep well.

Check out the video after the jump.

So you think performance-enhancing drugs should be legal? You should have jumped into the pool at the World Swimming Championships.

Chances are you would now be a world record-holder. A veritable Michael Phelps, at least if you'd dressed properly for the occasion.

That's a slight exaggeration, given the average American is now the size of barge. But the meet, which wrapped up Sunday in Rome, provided a real-life glimpse into what sports might become if the Legalize PEDs crowd had its way.

"A laughingstock."

So said five-time Olympic gold medalist Dawn Fraser. The Australian won her medals back when races were won by the best swimmer, not the best swimsuit.

ROME (AP) -- Michael Phelps had every reason to be satisfied after the Beijing Olympics. Yet he kept insisting there was more to do in the pool.

Clearly.

Even coming off his longest layoff and the embarrassment of being photographed inhaling from a marijuana pipe, Phelps turned in another remarkable performance over eight days at the Foro Italico. He completed it Sunday night by helping the U.S. 400-meter medley relay team set the 43rd world record of the fastest meet in history.

ROME (AP) -- He defiantly spit out a mouthful of a water, climbed atop the lane rope, pumped his fists furiously and tugged on that supposedly inferior swimsuit.

The message was clear: Don't mess with Michael Phelps.

Milorad Cavic tried to get in his head and wound up looking at his back, losing again to the guy who beat him at the Beijing Olympics.

This time, there was no doubt about it.

``There are always things that fire me up and motivate me,'' Phelps said Saturday, after becoming the first swimmer to break 50 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly. ``That's just how I tick.''

ROME (AP) -- No need to worry about a Michael Phelps boycott.

Swimming's governing body will ban record-breaking bodysuits beginning Jan. 1, a move that comes partly in response to a threat from Phelps' coach to pull his swimmer from competition until the suits are outlawed.

"It's going to be cool come Jan. 1 to be able to have all of us pretty much wearing the same suit," Phelps said Friday after swimming the leadoff leg as the Americans broke the world record in the 800 freestyle relay. "All of this is going to be finished and then we're going to be able to talk about swimming again, not suits."