Berens makes Olympics after Phelps’ withdrawal

Ricky Berens donned the pin-striped tee shirt and celebrated with the rest of the US Olympic swimming team on Monday, hours after Michael Phelps’s withdrawal from the 200m free gave him a London berth. “Today’s been a great day,” said Berens, who finished third in the 200m free at the US trials behind Phelps and Ryan Lochte, just missing out on a Games place. “I just saw Michael for the first time since I heard — I didn’t know what to say,” said Berens, adding he wasn’t quite sure a “thank you” was appropriate. Olympic superstar Phelps, whose eight gold medals in Beijing were a Games record and took his career tally to 14, qualified in the same eight events in the eight-day trials. But coach Bob Bowman said Phelps wasn’t quite the same swimmer he was four years ago after backing off his training for a time in the wake of his 2008 exploits. “His four-year preparation for this was so much different than in Beijing,” Bowman said. “I think it would be illogical to expect him to do that programme on lesser preparation.”