Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte will compete in the 200-meter individual medley final Thursday, renewing one of U.S. swimming greatest rivalries.
More Top Picks Best Vinyl Cutters For Beginners
But this isn’t 2012.
Rio’s Phelps and Lochte aren’t London’s Phelps and Lochte. They’re not competing against each other for air time or for the public’s attention, largely because Lochte’s only swimming two events here.
The two are rooming together in Rio along with Winnetka’s Conor Dwyer. Together the three roommates won the 800-meter freestyle relay Tuesday along with Townley Haas.
“They get along really well,” Dwyer said. “But as we all know, the rivalry is really big in the media and when those guys enter the water they want to beat each other really bad. It always brings out really good races, so I’m excited to see it.”
But their rivalry, while well-documented by the media, isn’t a fabrication. At least when they’re in the water.
“It’s definitely real when they step up on the blocks,” Dwyer said. “But as far as being in the room and stuff, you would never know that those two guys have battled each other time and time and time again in the water. They’re just friends hanging out playing cards, nothing to do with how they’ve tried to kill each other to win a 200IM at the Olympics multiple times.”
Phelps and Lochte finished the preliminaries in the top two spots. Phelps has won the event at the three past Olympics, with Lochte as the silver medalist in two of those races.
Twitter @stacystclair