espnstar.com's very own Olympic swimmer tells us that swimming is the headline sport when the Olympics comes along.

By STEVE AKERS (1992 Olympic swimmer)

Swimming rarely hogs the sport headlines, but as espnstar.com's own Olympic swimmer tells us, once every four years it's all the sporting world cares about.

Every four years, during the first week of the Olympics, swimming takes centre stage.

In football there's only transfer sagas, the athletics won't start until week two, there's not much cricket, no rugby, no Majors and no Grand Slams. It's swimming's 15 minutes of fame, it's a time when normally unnoticed athletes at the very top of their sport get a chance to be well and truly in the spotlight.

Not many people would have noticed Michael Phelps winning seven gold medals at the World Championships with five World Records last year, but everyone is talking about him now. On course to equal or beat Mark Spitz's seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games, he could be the first man on Mars to Spitz's first man on the moon.

Of course, it's not as if Phelps won't have any competition. There will, almost definitely, be other swimmers competing in his events and these will be event specialists. Most noticeably Ian Crocker in the 100 Fly.

Phelps' team mate holds the current world record - the only event in which Phelps competes that he doesn't. Crocker is no slouch and 100 Fly is all he does. Complete focus on that one event for the past four years. No breaststroke. No back stroke. No free style. No 200s. By swimming in the medley - Phelps has to practice all of these. And if Crocker wins the 100 Fly he'll be the one swimming in the USA relay team. So perhaps only six then?

Phelps aside for a minute, we've seen almost 50 world records smashed this year in the new LZR swimsuit. We've seen 41-year-old Dara Torres competing with kids half her age and winning. Mark Foster breaking his British record at 38 and competing in his fifth Olympics, 20 years after his first in Seoul.

Amanda Beard bearing all on the streets of Beijing to protest against the fur trade. Rebecca Hardy swimming one race testing negative, swimming the next, testing positive and swimming another and being negative again - all in the space of a week. Grant Hackett keeping a face mask on and refusing to touch handrails in case of illness. And stop press. Eamon Sullivan and Stephanie Rice breaking up.

We've also got the introduction of a 10k water swim - which will be a lot more fun to watch than compete in. Missing Ian Thorpe yet?

And what am I especially looking forward to in the pool?

Watching Pieter van den Hoogenband try and make it three gold medals in a row in the 100 Free. Such a fantastic name to say and such a wonderful swimmer - he makes blasting through the water sprinting like a wild maniac look like he's going for a gentle paddle.

Five Events to watch at the Olympics:
1. Men's 100 Free 2. Men's 100 Fly 3. Women's 100 Free 4. Men's 1500 Free 5. Men's 400 Medley

Five to watch at the Olympics
1. Pieter van den Hoogenband 2. Michael Phelps 3. Ian Crocker 4. Dara Torres 5. Grant Hackett