Michael Phelps sneaked¹ into Beijing almost unnoticed. He's unlikely to go out that way.

The probable star of the Beijing Olympics avoided hundreds of fans, photographers and reporters Monday by taking a side door out to a waiting bus while his teammates pushed luggage trolleys² through the arrival gate at Beijing's new Terminal 3.

Phelps, who's grown a mustache while training in Singapore, eventually was spotted³ — in a window seat on the team bus — by dozens of reporters and photographers. He ignored most of the cameras, glancing in their direction a few times as he adjusted the fit of his baseball cap.

One young Chinese girl said she had waited five hours hoping to get an autograph. She also carried an envelope in her hand, addressed in imperfect English: "To Michael Phelps you have to look at." Asked why she wanted to see Phelps, a friend standing⁴ nearby answered for her.

"Because she thinks he's handsome."

Phelps, who won six gold medals four years ago in Athens, is aiming to surpass Mark Spitz's seven-gold effort at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps will compete in eight events in Beijing, three of which are relays.

"I'm looking to do something different that the sport has never seen," Phelps said a few days ago in Singapore.

At last year's world championships in Australia, Phelps won seven events and was denied the chance for an eighth victory when a teammate was disqualified from the preliminaries of a relay the Americans were heavily favored to win. 

迈克尔•菲尔普斯“溜进”北京，竟然没被发现。这是不可能的。

本周一，这位有望成为北京奥运之星的游泳健将躲过了数以百计的粉丝、摄影师和记者的围追堵截，悄悄地从机场的一个小门“溜”上了美国游泳队乘坐的大巴，而他的队友们则推着行李车穿过北京首都国际机场T3航站楼出口。

新加坡集训时就开始留胡子的菲尔普斯，最终还是被十几名记者和摄影师认出来了。他坐在大巴上靠窗的位子，对蜂拥而至的镜头不予理会，只是在整理他的棒球帽时瞥他们几眼。

一个年轻的中国姑娘说她为了得到菲尔普斯的签名已经等了5个小时了。她手上还拿着一个信封，上面用并不标准的英文写着：“迈克尔•菲尔普斯收，你一定要看”。当被问及为什么这么想见菲尔普斯时，她身边的一个朋友替她回答说：

“因为她觉得他很帅。”

曾在四年前的雅典奥运会上一举夺得六枚金牌的菲尔普斯，这次的目标是超过1972年马克•施皮兹在慕尼黑奥运会上创下的包揽七金的记录。菲尔普斯将在北京奥运会上参加八个项目的比赛，其中有三项是接力。

菲尔普斯几天前在新加坡表示：“我希望做一些体育界没有人做过的事情。”

在去年的澳大利亚世界锦标赛上，菲尔普斯获得了七个项目的金牌，而在美国队非常有把握摘金的接力预赛中，由于队友被淘汰，致使菲尔普斯失去了获得第八枚金牌的机会。