Michael Phelps might be a normal guy, but he's a special athlete.

The 22-year-old swimmer from Baltimore has a chance to make Olympic history this summer in the Beijing Games, and he sounds ready for the challenge.

"I think right now I'm more relaxed than I was in 2004 going to the Olympics," Phelps said. "After everything I've been through in the last four years, it will help me prepare a little bit better for these Games. I really understand what's going to happen.

"Before Athens, I was a deer in headlights and really didn't know what to expect."

In Athens, Phelps became the first American to win eight medals in one Olympiad with six gold and two bronze. He joined Olympic icon Mark Spitz as the only swimmers to win four individual events in one Games -- Phelps won the 100- and 200-meter butterfly and 200- and 400-meter individual medley.

In Beijing, Phelps could challenge Spitz's record of seven golds in 1972, the most ever at one Olympics. If Phelps wins four gold medals, he will become the Olympic athlete with the most career golds, beating the record shared by Spitz, track athletes Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi and gymnast Larysa Latynina.

Phelps showed just how dangerous he can be in the Santa Clara Grand Prix recently when he defeated reigning Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol in the 100-meter backstroke. Phelps finished in 54.03 seconds to 54.36 for Peirsol, the world record-holder in the event.

Phelps won three events in less than an hour, also claiming titles in the 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley.

"That was a great triple he did," Peirsol said after the race. "You can't take away anything he did from that. That was maybe a little slower than I thought I was going to go, but not a bad swim by any stretch of the imagination. He's just ready to race no matter who's swimming next to him."

Phelps and his coach, Bob Bowman, have teamed up the past four years at the University of Michigan, where Phelps has trained and competed for the high-performance team, Club Wolverine. They have forged a close relationship that Phelps credits with helping him achieve his goals.

"I don't think anything is too high," Phelps said. "Bob has really helped me understand the sky is the limit. The more you use your imagination, the farther you'll go. If you think about doing the unthinkable, you have a good chance of doing that, if you work hard, if you recover right."

Phelps is expected to compete in at least eight events in Beijing, including three relays, and could add the 100 or 200 backstroke to his crowded schedule.

"The biggest challenge in coaching Michael is making sure I'm one step ahead of him," Bowman said. "He understands how my program operates. In order to keep it fresh and keep him excited about it, I have to find ways to change it up so there's a variety in it.

"There are a lot of long, boring laps in the swimming pool, and it's necessary for success."

Phelps has generated some controversy by wearing a specially designed Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit, an ultra lightweight fabric that is water repellent. Questions have been raised that swimmers wearing the suit will have an unfair advantage over those who do not.

"As for the suit, it has clearly helped a lot of swimmers to be able to drop some time," Phelps said at an Olympic team media event in April. "A lot of hard work has to go into it as well. But I think the suit is the difference between a hundredth or a tenth, whatever it may be.

"It's definitely an honor to be able to wear the fastest suit known to mankind."

Phelps has an endorsement deal with Speedo that includes a $1 million bonus if he equals Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics.

Phelps has traveled to Beijing several times and said he is well aware of the excitement the Chinese people are feeling about the Olympics. And it is something he shares as he makes his third Olympic trip.

"Being an Olympian was always a dream of mine as a kid," he said. "That's what this year is really about and what I'm preparing myself for right now.

"It's people [swimmers] from all over the world, from Chinese to Polish to Americans to Hungarians to Australians. It's just the competition is what I love the most. This is the Olympic Games and this is where the best athletes are."