LONDON — Former University of
Florida standout Ryan Lochte strolled the deck of the Olympic Aquatics
Centre wearing diamonds in his mouth and lime-green sneakers on the feet
that powered him through the water faster than anyone else. Beaming, he
chomped playfully on his gold medal while Bruce Springsteen's “Born in
the USA” blared throughout the massive arena.
Michael Phelps?
He was nowhere to be found.
Not during the race.
Not when it came time to hand out the medals.
On a stunner of an opening night
at the pool in London, Phelps was routed by his American rival in the
400-meter individual medley, losing to Lochte by more than 4 seconds
Saturday. That's not all: The winningest Olympian ever didn't win any
medal at all, the first time that's happened in a race of this magnitude
since he was a 15-year-old kid competing in just one event at the
Sydney Games, a dozen years ago.
“It was horrible,” Phelps told coach Bob Bowman when he climbed out.
Bowman's reply: “It was.”
Lochte turned the
much-anticipated duel with Phelps into a blowout, raising serious
questions about whether the guy who has won 14 gold medals and 16 medals
overall has anything left in the tank for his Olympic farewell.
Phelps is planning to retire as
soon as he finishes the last of his seven races in London, but he looked
ready to call it a career while struggling just to pull himself from
the water when his first event was done.
He was totally spent.
He was thoroughly beaten, perhaps signaling a changing of the guard at the pool.
“This is my year,” said Lochte,
who popped in his grillz — diamond-studded mouth jewelry — for the
victory ceremony. “I know it and I feel it, because I've put in hard
work. I've trained my butt off for four years ... and there's no better
way to start this Olympics off than getting gold.”
For Phelps, the start of these games couldn't have been more out of character.
He barely qualified for the
evening final, a performance that hinted at trouble ahead. Trouble
indeed. Phelps struggled to a fourth-place finish, blown out by Lochte
and beaten by Brazil's Thiago Pereira and Japan's Kosuke Hagino.
“It was just a crappy race,”
Phelps said. “I felt fine the first 200, then I don't know. They just
swam a better race than me, a smarter race than me, and were better
prepared than me. That's why they're on the medal stand.”
Lochte took the gold with a time
of 4 minutes, 5.18 seconds. Pereira (4:08.86) and Hagino (4:08.94) were
well back but ahead of Phelps, who touched fourth in 4:09.28 — nearly 5
1-2 seconds off his world record from the Beijing Olympics and not
nearly as fast as he went during the U.S. trials last month.
Since finishing fifth in his
lone event at Sydney, the 200 butterfly, Phelps was 16-of-16 when it
came to winning medals at the Olympics — 14 golds and two bronzes. That
run is over.
Lochte climbed out of the pool
with a big smile, waving to the crowd and looking about as fresh as he
did at the start. He had predicted this would be his year and, for the
first race of the Olympics at least, he was right on the mark.
“I think I'm kind of in shock
right now,” he said. As for Phelps, “I know he gave it everything he
had. That's all you can ask for.”
Phelps was trying to become the
first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight
Olympics. He'll have three more chances at a threepeat before he's done
in London, having also won the 200 individual medley, plus the 100 and
200 butterfly, at Athens and Beijing.
But he'll need a major comeback.
After one race, he looks nothing like the swimmer who won six gold
medals in Athens, then a record eight in Beijing to break Mark Spitz's
Olympic record.
“I'm surprised, and not pleasantly,” Bowman said. “I expected he'd be in the 4:06 range.”
With first lady Michelle Obama in the house waving a small U.S. flag, everyone expected a duel between the two American stars.
Only Lochte showed up.
Phelps fell behind right from
the start in the butterfly, his trademark stroke. From there, it was all
Lochte. He stretched his margin in the backstroke and breaststroke,
then cruised to the gold in the freestyle, a good three body lengths
ahead of the rest of the field.
“It's frustrating, that's all I
can say. It's pretty upsetting,” Phelps said. “The biggest thing now is
to try to look forward. I have a bunch of other races, and hopefully we
can finish a lot better than how we started.”
China had a big night, claiming a couple of gold medals.
Sixteen-year-old Ye Shiwen set a
world record in the women's 400 individual medley — only the third mark
to fall since high-tech bodysuits were banned at the end of 2009. She
won in 4:28.43, breaking the mark of 4:29.45 by Australia's Stephanie
Rice at the 2008 Beijing Games. American Elizabeth Beisel, a University
of Florida standout, took silver and China's Li Xuanxu grabbed the
bronze.
Sun Yang flirted with a world
record in the men's 400 freestyle. He took gold in 3:40.14, just off the
mark of 3:40.07 by Germany's Paul Biedermann in a rubberized suit three
years ago. When it was done, Sun propped himself on the lane rope,
pumping his fist and splashing the water.
South Korea's Park Tae-hwan won
silver in 3:42.06, fortunate even to take part after initially being
disqualified for a false start in the prelims. The ruling was overturned
by governing body FINA a couple of hours later on appeal. Peter
Vanderkaay of the U.S. won the bronze. Florida alum Conor Dwyer placed
fifth.
Australia captured gold in the
women's 400 freestyle relay with an Olympic record of 3:33.15, rallying
to pass the Americans and hold off the fast-charging Netherlands.
The U.S. got off to a blistering
start with Missy Franklin swimming leadoff under world-record pace, and
the Americans were still ahead after Jessica Hardy went next. But the
Australians rallied behind Brittany Elmslie on the third 100, and
Melanie Schlanger held on at the end, with Ranomi Kromowidjojo closing
fast to give the Netherlands a silver in 3:33.79.
The other members of the winning team were Alicia Coutts and Cate Campbell.
The Americans slipped to the
bronze in 3:34.24, but that was still good enough to give Natalie
Coughlin the 12th medal of her career, tying former Gator Dara Torres
and Jenny Thompson as the most decorated U.S. female Olympians in any
sport.
Coughlin swam in the morning
prelims, then was reduced to the role of cheerleader in the evening as
the Americans went with Franklin, Hardy, Lia Neal and Allison Schmitt.
Everyone who swims on a relay gets a medal, though.
“I really have no idea what to
think of it so far,” Coughlin said. “I'll have to take it all in
tonight. I'm very proud of it, but I've never been on a morning relay
before.”
There was no medal for Phelps.
His close call in the morning
prelims put him in an already uncustomary position — swimming on the
outside in the No. 8 lane. He only had one swimmer next to him and no
idea what Lochte and the others in the middle of the pool were doing.
Not that it would have mattered.
“I don't think the lane had
anything to do with it,” Phelps said. “I just couldn't really put myself
in a good spot for that race. It's frustrating for sure. ... It's just
really frustrating to start off on a bad note like this.”
Phelps still has six more events
to swim in London, plenty of time to make up for his dismal start. He
remains two behind the most medals won by any Olympian — Soviet gymnast
Larisa Latynina's mark of 18 — nine gold, five silver, four bronze.
Phelps put himself in position
to swim another eight events with his performance at the U.S. trials,
but he decided to drop the 200-meter freestyle, feeling one less race
would give his body a better chance to recover and improve his
performance in the other events.
Now, he may be regretting that decision.
The 400 IM was an event he has
dominated, winning gold at the last two Olympics and holding the world
record for a full decade. But, tired of putting his body through such a
grind, he dropped it from his program after setting a world record in
Beijing four years ago (4:03.84), vowing never to swim it again.
He should have stuck with that
pledge. Clearly, Phelps didn't leave himself enough time to get back in
the kind of shape he needed to win the brutal race, having only brought
it back earlier this year.
“I was lucky to get in,” he
said, referring to his slow time in the morning. “I had a chance to put
myself in a spot to start off on a good note and didn't do it.”
Lochte gave the Americans their
first gold medal of the London Games and put himself in position to
fulfill the promise he showed at last year's world championships, where
he won five golds and beat Phelps in their two head-to-head meetings.
The friendly rivals have one
more showdown in London, in the 200 individual medley. Phelps edged
Lochte in that race during the U.S. Olympics trials, but Lochte appears
to be on top of his game when it really counts.
They might be working together on Sunday, when both are in the mix to compete for the U.S. in the 4x100 free relay.
There appear to be no hard feelings.
“Congrats to (at)RyanLochte,” Phelps tweeted afterward. “Way to keep that title in the country where it belongs!!”
“Thanks,” Lochte replied: “I couldn't do it without you.”
