Michael Phelps Loses First Place Olympic Spot to Ryan Lochte in 400 Medley (VIDEO)
Michael Phelps lost his first place title Monday night, giving lead to Ryan Lochte who took the first spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team.
Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, two of the world's best male swimmers, competed Monday night for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. The trials began Monday morning in Omaha, Nebraska. During preliminaries Lochte took the first seed in the 400 Individual Medley.
Phelps earned the time of 4:14.72 during the preliminary round, which was enough to earn him a middle lane in the competition but not enough to place ahead of Lochte.
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During the final round, Lochte took first place in the event with the time of 4:07.06 and Phelps close behind at 4:07.89. For Lochte the first place could mean that he is in the position of the "hunted" according to some.
"That's just what you guys think," Lochte told the NBC host Monday night, "That's not how I see it, for me I'm still the hunter."
Although Lochte has secured the first top slot for the U.S. Olympics team however, he is still far away from the world record which Phelps broke for the 400 I.M. in the 2008 Beijing Olympics with the time of 4:03.84.
Phelps, who was wary of perusing another Olympics, has stated that the London Olympics will for sure be his last. Phelps nearly lost the race to Lochte in 2008 and had to beat his own record in order to come out on top.
This time however, Lochte may be in better shape considering Phelps' early setbacks after hesitating to train for the London Olympics. Lochte on the other hand, seems to be bubbling with enthusiasm.
"I would swim every event possible. That's what I love to do. I love just getting up on the blocks and racing the people next to you, trying to put your hand on the wall first," Lochte said during an earlier press conference.
