Michael Phelps Strong Return, Carrie Prejean No Show: Today, the winningest Olympian ever, Michael Phelps made his return to competitive swimming after a long 9-month layoff due to a suspension involving some pictures and a marijuana-smoking device called a “Bong”.

In his return, Phelps looked more relaxed than ever, joking around and smiling for the cameras before the race.

With all the speculation surrounding Phelps and his romantic relationship with the controversial Miss California, Carrie Prejean, everyone looked around at the UltraSwim in Charlotte for any sightings of the beauty queen.

With no distractions, Phelps cruised to the finals of his first two events. "He said something to me like, 'Do I really have five cameras in my face for the Charlotte UltraSwim? I didn't even have this for the Olympics,'" said Bob Bowman, Phelps' coach.

"I'm happy to be back, happy to be racing again," Phelps said. "Tonight is going to be my first final I've had since Beijing. We'll see how it goes."

Bowman was very pleased with Phelps' performance, especially after the longest layoff of his career. "As far as I'm concerned, I would accept that as a good prelim swim for any meet. I'm very happy with it," the coach said.

"He might have been a little bit nervous. I think now he seems like his normal self. It's good to get the first one done.

"You just don't know what's going to happen. That's when you get the most nervous, when you can't predict what's going to happen. Now he had a feel for where he is little bit."

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