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 LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Michael Phelps launches his two-month countdown to the world championships this weekend, with the landmark meet in Australia representing the start of what he calls "the biggest two years of my swimming career."
The world championships are the most important meet outside the Olympics, allowing Phelps and his rivals to size each other up 1 1/2 years before the Beijing Games.
"This worlds sets up everything that happens at the Olympics — for endorsements, for my swimming career, for my times, for what events I'm going to swim in Beijing," he said Friday. "It could make me or break me as an athlete."
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