BEIJING — BEIJING - Listen to Ryan Lochte talk and your mind conjures images of Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Wooderson from Dazed and Confused. While most athletes rely on a carefully scripted series of businesslike cliches, he is as mellow as the Florida surf at low tide.
It's easy to overlook, when you listen to his version of skateboarder Zen, that he might be the second-best swimmer in the world. But it's true. If there was no Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte just might be Michael Phelps, the swimmer favored to win more gold medals than you can count on one hand at these Olympics.
Some things would have to be different, though. While Phelps of Rodgers Forge understands his role as the sport's ambassador, doing countless interviews and appearing in myriad commercials, Lochte said he would "shoot himself" if he had that kind of life.
In fact, if he could go the rest of his career without ever doing another interview, he would jump at the chance.
"I get more nervous for doing interviews that I do my races," Lochte said. "I kind of like doing my own thing. I like being low on the radar all the time. Not being like this big 'idea,' I guess. I just like surfing, skateboarding and swimming, and not many people pay attention to that."
The nice thing for Lochte is that he is virtually anonymous outside the swimming world, but that could be about to change. Lost in all the talk of Phelps' quest for eight gold medals and breaking Mark Spitz's record is that Lochte could derail the whole chase the very first night of the competition with an upset in the 400-meter individual medley.
At the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in June, Lochte pushed Phelps harder than he has ever been pushed in the IM, as he and Phelps both beat the old world record. Lochte finished second, but he matches Phelps stroke for stroke in the water. Phelps' turns, the best in the sport, were the only thing that staved off an upset.
"I think Ryan Lochte is the best thing to happen to Michael Phelps," said Mark Schubert, director of USA Swimming.
Lochte, who considers Phelps a close friend, could hardly have taken a more different route than his rival to the record books. His father, Steve, was a swimming coach, so Lochte was always around the pool growing up in New York and then Florida. But the free-spirited wild child hated swim practice. He vividly remembers intentionally getting kicked out, then hiding in the bathroom where he clogged all the toilets and sinks and emptied all the soap dispensers onto the floor in rebellious protest. When he got tired of that, he broke into the candy machine.
