The first weekend of Olympic swimming opened in storybook fashion for Michael Phelps, who notched his first gold medal Saturday, but got off plot in his eighttimes-gold quest by the end of day two.

In a controversial decision, Phelps was named yesterday to the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay team – much to the chagrin of three-time Olympian Gary Hall Jr., who was bumped from his spot and opted not to show up at the pool after learning of the decision. Phelps did not swim the 100 freestyle at the Olympic Trials, where the relay lineup is usually determined. His best time of the year, 49.05, would have placed him second at the trials.

U.S. men’s coach Eddie Reese hinted at the decision after the Trials, saying, “fast is more important than fair.” But in an Olympic Games that long ago settled on Phelps as its chief protagonist and main attraction, he might as well confess that Phelps is more important than fair, too.

After all the hullabaloo, the American team had to settle for bronze in last night’s final behind a world-record-setting South African relay and a Netherlands team anchored by Peter van den Hoogenband.

South Africa’s Roland Schoeman swam a blistering first-leg split in 48.1, establishing a lead his team never relinquished. By contrast, Ian Cocker, who led-off the American team swam a drowsy 50.05, the slowest of all racers, creating a deficit from which the U.S. couldn’t recover.

Phelps’s split of 48.74 was .01 slower than Hall’s qualifying swim in the morning – hardly the margin of defeat, but enough to justify Hall’s claim that he was unfairly replaced.Thus ends Phelps’s pursuit of eight gold medals; the best he can do now is tie Spitz’s record of seven, a long shot at that.

So there are no foregone conclusions in the Olympics, but Phelps swimming the 400 I.M. comes close. Sitting on deck with his oversized headphones, rumpled warm-up, and emotionless Kerry-length face, Phelps looks like any other gawky teenager lost in his own thoughts. But the same body language that might denote boredom or shyness in someone else reads as supreme confidence in Phelps just minutes before an Olympic finals heat.

The I.M. requires swimmers to be jacks of all trades, completing two lengths of the pool in each of the four competitive strokes – butterfly, back stroke, breast stroke, and freestyle.This makes for exciting racing as the lead seesaws between swimmers trading in and out of their strongest strokes. But Phelps is master of most: He qualified for the Olympics in individual butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle events. There would be no seesawing in this race.

Instead, the 400 I.M. final Saturday was a show of easy and absolute dominance. The first stroke, butterfly, let Phelps unfurl his enormous reach. His arms hung out over the surface as if cantilevered on his recovery, while his long follow-through gave him a distance-per-stroke far better than anyone else in the field.

Where others churned the water furiously, Phelps swam as though being dragged by a rope.The fly and backstroke lengths also showcased his other great advantage: a powerful underwater dolphin kick that amounted to a time bonus every time he left a wall. At 200 meters, it was hard for TV cameras to keep both Phelps and the other swimmers in the same shot.

Phelps won the race with a time of 4:08.26, bettering his own world record by .15 seconds and beating the rest of the field by nearly 3 1/2. American teammate Erik Vendt won Silver and Lazslo Cseh of Hungary won bronze.

“One down, six to go,” said a beaming Phelps after the event, Either he misspoke, forgetting one of his events, or he prophesied the following night’s loss.

An alternate plotline – albeit largely press-generated – is the rivalry between the U.S. and Australian teams after the 2000 Sydney games.

America leads the overall swimming medal count in Athens after with eight, but Australia has three golds to America’s one. And the Aussie women beat the Americans in dramatic fashion Saturday in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay, the first major head-to-head race, stealing the lead in the last 50 meters.

As elsewhere, the focus here is on Phelps and Thorpe. It’s a largely apples-to oranges comparison, but one that will continue to be made nonetheless.

Both won gold in their first events – Thorpe took the 400-meter freestyle, where he held off a late surge from countryman Grant Hackett – and will face one another in only one individual race: the 200 meter freestyle.Thorpe edged Phelps by .53 seconds as the two swam side-byside in yesterday’s semifinal heat, setting up tonight’s final.

The performance of the rest of the American team has been uneven, with dismal failures and surprising breakthrough swims. After much jostling in the world standings in the last few months, Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima beat American Brendan Hansen in the 100 breaststroke by .17, some argue using an illegal dolphin kick in the process. (They will race again in Wednesday’s 200 breaststroke final.)

Another American favorite, 15-yearold Katie Hoff, crumbled under pressure Saturday, failing to qualify for the finals in the 400 I.M. Instead, it was teammate Kaitlin Sandeno who raced to a gutsy and unexpected silver medal in the event, finishing .12 seconds behind defending Olympic champion Yana Klochkova of Ukraine. Sandeno also collected a bronze in the 400 freestyle yesterday.