Just as he did Sunday night, Phelps shared the stage at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium with Katie Ledecky, the Bethesda, Md., teenager who’s primed to replace him as the world’s most dominant swimmer.
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Lochte and Phelps were the third and fourth legs of Tuesday’s Gold-winning US team in the 4×200 freestyle relay. If he wins, he’ll break another Olympic record by becoming the only swimmer to win four consecutive gold medals in the same individual event.
Ledecky won the 800 free in London at age 15, the first jaw-dropping moment of a career that has since featured an astronomical number of them. Entering Thursday, he has 12 Olympic medals, six of them gold, making him tied for seventh most decorated Summer Olympian of all time.
Team USA leads the medal count after five days in Rio with 11 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze for a total of 32 medals.
He also had a reality show called “What Would Ryan Lochte Do” (correct answer: go to swim practice every second of his entire life) and became sort of infamous for being a bit of a dunce (please see previous sentence re: Tinder), and all the while, he’s also maintaining his place at the top of the podiums next to Phelps.
“I guess you would say I’d be like the Michael Phelps of swimming if he wasn’t there”, Lochte told NBC. Between them, they have 97 medals in the Olympics and World Championships. Lochte may never be the Michael Phelps of swimming, but he will always be the Ryan Lochte of being Ryan Lochte. Now she holds the 12 fastest times in history and is usually so far ahead of the seven other swimmers that the real race is with the clock. Others moving into the final are Jazz Carlin of Britain, American Leah Smith, Lotte Friis of Denmark, and Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain, who won the 200 butterfly on Wednesday.
Outside of the pool you could mistake Ledecky for an ordinary teenager.
Phelps said in his post-swim press conference on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning, SA time) that he would not be swimming the 200m butterfly again. Her words are usually nonchalant, matter of fact, unaffected. His 95-year-old Cuban-American grandmother, however, is proving to be his strongest supporter from her nursing home in the U.S.
Host Brazil plays the US men at 10:35 p.m. Two women asked Ledecky to take their picture – without her.
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Who knows what would happen if Phelps didn’t exist. She seems immune to pressure, even as the pile of records and medals grows. “She likes to race”.
