After Ryan Lochte's 200 I.M. world record (in a textile suit), after his 200 free underwater dolphin kick dominance, and after his 1:52.96 in the 200 backstroke, I'm still hearing these three sentences:
Ryan Lochte swims in Michael Phelps' shadow.
Ryan Lochte plays second fiddle to Phelps, and always will.
Ryan Lochte will never equal Phelps' iconic Olympic performance, eight for eight gold medals.
It no one's fault, not really. Most people don't care about swimming enough to pay attention. Whatever happened at the last Olympics marks their minds, and thus becomes fact going forward.
Inside swimming and behind the scenes, Lochte's success has been a long time coming, a slow burn to success. No one's surprised, though many are relieved to see Lochte's hard work has paid off.
My wife and I dropped in on Lochte at his home in Gainesville back in early February. It was work-related, and we were only able to do the job in between his heavy training sessions. I had a chance to speak with his coach, Greg Troy, and he commented, "Ryan has not missed a practice all season. If he can't make a training session, he makes it up. That's the rule."
Nothing more needs to be said about Ryan's chances for success going forward.
HOWEVER, I do wonder if Ryan's tipped his hand too early?
Ryan can go eight for eight, all gold, at the London Olympics, and, if he does, the performance will be far more spectacular than Michael's...because Ryan will have to do it against the man, Mr. Swimming himself, Michael Phelps.
Phelps is not chopped liver. He's not done. In fact, he's probably gotten a fire lit under his ass.
Phelps thrives on competition. He loves people doubting his dominance. Case in point, his 49 second 100 meter butterfly win over Cavic at the 2009 World Championship in Rome (Phelps' answer to the photo-finish and much debated win at the Olympic Games in Beijing).
Phelps will be ready for London. His performance at the 2011 FINA World Championships has put many rumors to bed. Phelps has swum incredibly well with two personal best times in textile suits (200 I.M. & 100 free).
The question is, has Ryan built enough of a training base to push himself over the top? Often times, swimmers seal their performance years in advance. They've built a base of training 2-3 years ahead time. It appears Ryan has done that, but Phelps has a tremendous base of training in the vault going back to the tender age of 14.
I think Ryan has an 8 for 8 Olympic gold medal performance in him, but I'm not ready to bet the house on it. Like many of my friends, I'd like to let world championships sink in, crunch all the data, and then make a prediction.
In the meantime, I'm simply thankful to be witnessing what will be the greatest match-up ever in the sport of swimming.
RYAN MEDIA WATCH: Here's Ryan in his latest Gatorade video.
Here's RYAN in a SwimOutlet video my wife and I produced (Gold Medal Media):
Latest Gold Medal Delivery with TEAM GOLD:
omg, you phelps fans are so ignorant. why do you have to make stupid excuses for phelps' poor performance? he didn't train as hard as he should of and he got what he deserved. its that simple. lochte is the first man to break a world record in textile, and all you guys do is downplay his achievements?!?! lets face it, lochte is only getting better and better, and if phelps doesn't start seriously training again, i'm afraid he is going to get his ass kicked by lochte again in london.
Posted by: Happygolucky | August 06, 2011 at 10:15 AM
I think Lochte may have peaked too soon. He had a great Worlds no doubt. Can he maintain this level of intensity all the way to London? We'll see.
But it doesn't matter. This Worlds positioned Phelps perfectly for 2012. The 200 IM really encapsulates the whole situation. He nearly ran down Lochte in the last 25 meters--losing by the barest of margins. He swam a best time in a textile suite. And, by his own admission, he didn't start training with any consistent focus or intensity until he lost the 200 fly in April. That's only 4 months ago!
Basically, Phelps screwed around for nearly 2 years after Worlds in 2009. It wasn't pretty or disciplined. He didn't take time off in an organized way like Coughlin, who took a planned 18 month break. Bowman should have shut him down after Worlds, which he has since conceded. But, the effect has been the same--as messy as it appeared--he got the mental and physical rest that he needed.
My prediction: Phelps will swim 4 individual events in London: 200 fly, 200 IM, 200 free, 100 fly. He will gold medal and set WRs in all of them.
Posted by: Mac McClelland | August 01, 2011 at 09:47 AM
Lochte will never touch Phelps' body of work. Sorry its true. RL's turning 27 this year, Phelps is 26. RL decided too late in life that he was tired of coming in second. Phelps won his 25th WC gold this morning, Lochte won his 11th yesterday. Phelps 14 Oly golds, Lochte 3. Truthfully whatever either of them does in 2012 is not going to effect the story either way. The will both surely rack up medals in London, but 20, 30, 60 years from now the story remains: Phelps is the greatest there ever was. Because he set goals early on, not 3 years ago. You can pimp Lochte all you want, but he sharing an era with the GOAT. So yes he is swimming in Phelps shadow. The story in London will be saying goodbye to the Greatest Olympian in history I would bet on it.
Posted by: Lisa | July 30, 2011 at 05:14 PM
No one got it done as Phelps did and if he wanted to have some time off his training, it was well deserved. He's not some college kid hungry for glory, he is THE GOAT and he has nothing to prove to anyone! We all should be lucky he's still swimming when in reality he had no real reason to continue after Beijing. By the way, I think he did pretty well considering the amount of training he had put into this Worlds and he isn't that far behind Lochte. Now Phelps is energized mentally and physically to take that last step before he retires in 2012. For all biased Lochte admirers: don't forget that 0.16 is such a small margin. That race could have gone the other way easily...Phelps run out of pool.
Posted by: Lili | July 29, 2011 at 12:13 PM
Good videos, Mel!
I see Lochte as one who just gets it done instead of talking about it.
Posted by: Chris N | July 29, 2011 at 08:13 AM
Great article Mel and I have been so frustrated this week with some of the same comments. The swims that Ryan has put together this week have been outstanding and he still has one more to go. I have heard some people say he can’t get any better, but I don’t believe that at all. What do you think? I just wish they would give Ryan the kudos he deserves.. But, like Phelps maybe that will be more fuel for the fire for Ryan.
After the 200 free win he said there still room for improvement and the race didn’t go the way he wanted it to. He gets the WR in the IM, swims a great 200 back and dominates the field; anchors the 800 free relay and surges ahead to give the US the win. Ryan has always been good off the walls, and after this week.. HE IS BETTER. Personally; I am so excited to see what the next year holds for both Ryan and MFP. Its going to make Omaha and then the Olympics something to remember.
I’m biased because I am a huge Lochte fan.. I hope next year, he can repeat this performance and get the credit he deserves..
Posted by: Bianca | July 29, 2011 at 07:44 AM