Chalk up another remarkable feat for Michael Phelps: somehow making swimming trading cards popular.

An autographed 2004 trading card of the record-shattering Olympian was going for as much as $500 this week, just two weeks after industry experts say the collectible could be easily had for $25.

The market value could rise to $750 to $1,000 if Phelps wins a record eight gold medals, said Tracy Hackler, an associate publisher with Beckett Media LLP, a Dallas-based memorabilia company.

“It's unlike anything we've seen in the trading card category,” said Hackler, whose company is an industry leader in collectibles pricing.

Arlington, Texas-based Donruss produced about 300 of the autographed Phelps cards in 2004 and about 5,000 “common” cards not bearing the American swimmer's autograph, Donruss spokesman Scott Prusha said.

The cards without autographs have enjoyed a spike in market value too, going from $2.50 to about $20, Hackler said.

Added Hackler: “We're kind of in uncharted waters here. No pun intended.”

SIGN FROM ABOVE?

From Gil LeBreton of McClatchy Newspapers:

“BEIJING – Alien intruders swarmed over the Olympic city Friday. Actually, it was everyone's shadow. And it seemed to freak out the Chinese.

“For the first time since the Games began, the sun seared its way through the seemingly impenetrable Beijing haze and, like the Punxsatawney groundhog, citizens could see their own shadows.

“And you know what that means – one more week of the Olympics.”

PROTEST

Five foreign activists were deported after they scaled a landmark building in Beijing to unfurl a “Free Tibet” banner over an Olympic billboard in the latest protest during the Games. Students for a Free Tibet said the protesters – three Americans, a Briton and a Canadian – were detained by police after hanging the banner from the new headquarters of state-owned China Central Television.

WHAT CAN YOU BELIEVE?

Another faking controversy has surfaced about Opening Ceremonies. Children supposedly from different ethnic groups who carried China's red flag in a show of unity were actually mostly Han Chinese, who make up 92 percent of the 1.3 billion population. This follows revelations that computer-generated special effects replaced live fireworks on the telecast, and a little girl was lip-syncing instead of singing China's national anthem.

NUMBERS

18: Winning streak in the Olympics for U.S. softball team.

91,000: Seating at National Stadium, usually called the Bird's Nest.

QUOTABLE

“I called back to the people in the tape room, and everybody said it was pure (garbage).”

– U.S. boxing coach Dan Campbell, on the judges' decision that American Raynell Williams hadn't scored enough with his punches

“Oh yeah, she took my shoulder off. She's got a heavy arm. I'll give her that much. . . . She put a lot down. Give her credit.”

– U.S. women's volleyball standout Logan Tom, on China's Yimei Wang, who had numerous spikes in the Americans' victory

– FROM NEWS SERVICES