Longtime Sidekick Propels Swimmer

Bowman has been present in Phelps's life since the days when he would drive Phelps from practice to school, listen to his troubles, and send him inspirational e-mails.

He helped teach Phelps how to tie a necktie, and watched his first national television interview, in which the 15-year-old swimmer -- who is now a sports celebrity -- sat swiveling like a kid on a CNN studio chair.

Their cars, Phelps's Cadillac Escalade -- the product of the millions he is earning in endorsement money -- and Bowman's Chevy Trail Blazer, are the same color.

They have made a swimming video together. Both are represented by the same sports marketing agency, Octagon, in McLean. And Bowman has earned top national coaching accolades as his swimmer has won races.

"We're probably closer personally because I have been with him so long," Bowman says. "And it probably in some aspects hurts the relationship."

With the absence of Phelps's father, from whom the swimmer has been estranged, Bowman became an important male figure in the athlete's life, acting as confidant, counselor, and exemplar, as well as coach.

"We tend to get involved in areas of each other's life where we probably wouldn't if we were [just] coach and swimmer," Bowman says. "Boundaries are crossed that probably sometimes should not be crossed."

And that can make the job of coaching more complicated. "It's essential that coaches and swimmers have a separation," he says. "I'm not here to be his friend. I'm here to be his coach. However, he might tell you I'm his friend because sometimes probably I am. We're close. But I don't want to be too close. Hard to do."

Bowman says that as Phelps has matured, the coach has widened the boundaries between them, and tried to cede to the swimmer more decisions. There are also frictions between them and heated exchanges that arise because one is a teenage athlete and the other is a driven practitioner of coaching.

But Bowman also believes his tenure has helped Phelps. Mainly, Bowman has sold him on the idea that if he kept his focus on swimming he would achieve tremendous success. Bowman set goals, talked about possibilities, and got Phelps to dream of greatness.

"Bob's taught me to do that," Phelps says. "Ever since I've been with him. It's been something that I've done every year for every meet."

Bowman also has been aggressively protective of his swimmer, ejecting, on three occasions, one magazine photographer and two TV crews from practice sessions for boorish or insensitive behavior.

He left one TV crew member in tears, wailing, "Why are you being so mean?" He called another station's headquarters and yelled: "Don't ever send the C team here again!"

He says they never did.

A Thinking Man

Dawn was breaking outside the tan cinderblock of Building 87 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center here one morning last month, and the coach was headed from his spare quarters in Room 216, just above the maintenance shop, in search of coffee.