Industry News: Michael Phelps Headlines FINA World Aquatics Championships as NBC Sports, Universal Sports Present More than 50 Hours of Coverage

LOS ANGELES, California, July 17. FRESH off a world record at the USA Swimming National Championships, Michael Phelps looks for more gold medals with fellow teammates Ryan Lochte, Dara Torres and Aaron Peirsol as NBC Sports and Universal Sports, in cooperation with the International Swimming Federation (FINA), present more than 50 hours of coverage of the 2009 FINA World Aquatics Championships taking place July 17 – August 2 from Rome. Coverage of the 13th FINA World Championships covers all disciplines governed by FINA, including swimming, diving, water polo, open water and synchronized swimming events. The planned coverage on Universal Sports and NBC more than triples the amount of broadcast hours for any international aquatics event outside of the Olympic Games.

COVERAGE ON NBC SPORTS:
NBC Sports will air six hours of competition over three days beginning on July 26 12-2 p.m. ET and continuing August 1 and 2 from 12–2 p.m. ET. Highlighted races include the men's and women's 4x100m freestyle relays against top rivals France and Australia on July 26; Michael Phelps' putting his recent world record in the100m butterfly to the test on August 1; and Dara Torres' looking for redemption in the women's 50m freestyle race on August 2.

COVERAGE ON UNIVERSAL SPORTS:
Universal Sports will feature a two-hour primetime show at 7 p.m. ET each night of the Championships, beginning July 18. The network will also have a live two-hour program during the swimming finals at Noon ET on Monday, July 27 through Friday, July 31. The men's and women's water polo teams hope to build off their silver medals from the Beijing Games, while the U.S. diving team hopes to end China's dominance of the sport. Notable swimming races on Universal Sports include Beijing silver medalist Christine Magnuson in the women's 200m individual medley on July 2; the men's 100m freestyle race – without superstars Phelps and Lochte – on July 30; and the 200m backstroke showdown between Lochte and Peirsol on July 31.

COVERAGE ON UNIVERSALSPORTS.COM:
UniversalSports.com will provide live streaming video of all finals during the Championships as well as the swimming heats. Live webcast begins this Friday at 11:30 a.m. ET with the men's 1m diving final.

The NBC Sports' Olympic swimming broadcast team of three-time Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines, Emmy Award-winning host Dan Hicks, and reporter Andrea Kremer will provide commentary for the swimming events on Universal Sports and NBC Sports. NBC Sports' Olympic broadcast team of Emmy Award-winning host Ted Robinson and former Olympic diver Cynthia Potter will cover the diving competition. All coverage on both networks is hosted and produced by the NBC Olympics team, led by NBC Sports and Olympics Executive Producer David Neal.

"This is truly unprecedented coverage of the 2009 FINA World Championships, the most ever dedicated to aquatics across all the disciplines, providing viewers with more than 50 hours of television coverage, as well as robust online offerings," said Claude Ruibal, CEO of Universal Sports. "Collectively, NBC Sports, Universal Sports and UniversalSports.com, will deliver world-class, wall-to-wall coverage of these exciting World Championships to the millions of fans across America. We fully expect a week of intense, record-breaking competitions."

Universal Sports and NBC Sports present live and same-day coverage of the Championships, beginning July 18 – Aug. 2. A full schedule is available at UniversalSports.com/tvschedule. In addition, UniversalSports.com will live stream each event. A detailed schedule of times, as well as highlights, full-length videos, photos, breaking news and more available at Universal Sports' swimming channel at UniversalSports.com/swimming.

TEAM USA:
Top contenders are 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps competing in the 200m freestyle, 100m and 200m butterfly; Dara Torres competing in the 50m freestyle event; two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Aaron Peirsol competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke; and Ryan Lochte competing in the 200m and 400m IM and 200m backstroke. Aaron Peirsol set two world records at the USA Swimming National Championships (100m fly and 200m backstroke), while Phelps set the world record in the 100m fly.

ABOUT UNIVERSAL SPORTS:
Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, serves as the preeminent multiplatform destination for Olympic-related and lifestyle sports programming available on television and online. Universal Sports, available in 56 million homes, is in nine of the top 10 DMAs including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Houston, Seattle and Denver. Major world championship and Olympic qualifying events found on Universal Sports range from track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons and cycling, to volleyball, rowing, triathlon, fencing, speed skating and martial arts. UniversalSports.com delivers an immersive experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, as well as interaction with top athletes through blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year round. For more information on the availability of the Universal Sports 24-hour television channel, please visit UniversalSports.tv.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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