the buzz log

You've heard of Michael Phelps, right? He's the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. He won eight gold medals at Beijing. He's endorsing just about every product under the sun. Yeah, that guy. Well, now has a girlfriend. Naturally, fans are all a flutter.

Queries on "michael phelps girlfriend" surged an astounding 3,498% this week. Currently, the term is among our top 700 overall searches. Not quite as impressive as Phelps' Olympic performance, but still... not too shabby. There are numerous lookups for "who is michael phelps girlfriend" and "who is phelps girlfriend." The answer: Caroline "Caz" Pal, a 26 year old waitress from Las Vegas. Following in Clooney's footsteps, perhaps?

Queries on "caroline pal" and "caz pal" are already soaring, and we expect them to continue their torrid pace this week. Not surprisingly, searches on "caz pal photos" and "michael phelps girlfriend photos" are especially popular.

People magazine explains that Phelps recently introduced his new special lady to his mother over Thanksgiving. Is that a sign this "girlfriend" could become something more? We've no idea, but we do know that queries on "girlfriends" and "boyfriends" are always hot in Search. After all, fans want to know who celebs are dating. We tracked down the top 10 lookups and list 'em below...