Lochte & Phelps square off for the 200 meter freestyle

I missed Monday night’s Olympic Swim Trials, and I’ll probably miss more—I am a sporadic TV watcher at best, and a bad sit-com viewer at worst–mostly because there are flat-out better things to do, but I’m glad I caught the mens’ 200 meter semi-final freestyles Tuesday night. With a medaled line-up that featured rivals and teammates Lochte and Phelps from the Beijing games, and training schedules much ballyhooed in the news, the qualifying event was as interesting to watch as the Olympiad itself promises to be. The events I catch, anyway.

According to our TV commentator, the men weren’t just ready to compete again: they were raring! Prepared and then some; Lochte by engaging in so-called Strong man training techniques on a bi-weekly basis, and Phelps by hitting it extra-hard in the high altitudes of Colorado Springs. (click Colorado Springs to read more about Phelps right here at: CHARRON’s CHATTER)

For the layabout there at home, let me elaborate: Strong man training usually involves lifting something unnecessarily heavy, dragging it some distance unnecessarily, to ultimately hurl it over something for no fathomable reason. A fallback skill to be honed, no doubt, in the event the swimming thing doesn’t work out.

As the 2 men entered Century Link Center, the Omaha arena hosting the event, they looked sleek as seals. The hi-tech swim wear lent to that effect, of course: both athletes sporting knee-length swim trunks and skull-hugging swim caps, though only Phelps appeared to be getting his iTunes on pre-dip, and God only knows what the other 6 competitors were doing. Sure, Conor Dwyer had already qualified for the Olympics in the 400 last night, and that third Mike guy in the race, Michael Klueh, was a swimmer to watch out for, too, but to me the only guys who mattered were the ones heading toward lanes 4 and 5.

Freestyle’s my personal favorite style to swim, and as the buzzer sounded its alarm I leaned forward right along with them. My boy Phelps lunged into the drink with lightning-quick reflexes, and he was a dolphin underwater—a 6 foot 3 and 165 lbs dolphin, but a dolphin nevertheless–making the most of his push-off the start block with underwater thrust, but Lochte had beaten him in the 400 the night before and kept easy pace. They were dead even at the 50 meter mark, both somersaulting at 25:23 seconds, a full minute slower than the World Record split for the first wall flip.

The underwater camera provided footage of the transition, and it looked as if Phelps gave Lochte a serious once-over at this juncture, but maybe it was just the angle of his head. His swim goggles made it impossible to know for sure, and NBC’s mysterious coverage didn’t help.

The second wall flip found the television flashing the turnaround numbers for the competitor in the third lane, Conor Dwyer, (52:71, and WR Split: +2.59) when the times we all tuned in for were those of Lochte and Phelps. Granted, as many as 5 swimmers were “dead even” at this point, (not parroting information here, so much as peacocking) but really, NBC. Get your head out of your plumage.

Even though a part of me knew that getting the absolute best time wasn’t essential for Phelps, as the top 2 finishers move on to the finals on Wednesday, I still wanted him to win. A competitor of his caliber doesn’t give up the ship easily, and that’s part of his appeal—and his success. So I’m happy to decide he’s pulled ahead as they grab up armloads of water pumping for the third wall flip. Or at least a crown of a head, though again that strutting peacock of a multi conglomerate TV station only chimed in with the “dead even” decree, and Dwyer’s time at the 150 mark. (1:20.25, and WR Split: +4.1)

It was as interesting to speculate whether NBC had issues with our wondrous water boy as it was to contrast Lochte and Phelps different forms underwater—Lochte’s arched back gave him a bubble butt Beyonce would envy, while Phelps undulated as smoothly as a water snake in Ess-shaped kips. Clearly the more graceful of the two, that didn’t stop Lochte from breaking the surface ahead of our merman Mikey!

At 1:31.1 on the clock, and the fourth and final wall fast approaching, Ryan Lochte was a solid arm’s length ahead of Michael, but by 1:40.1 Phelps had closed the distance. To see this happen in realtime was incredible: Phelps switched gears so smoothly it was impossible to pinpoint how he made up the ground, and by the final nanos’ of the race, it was anybody’s finish line.

So who manages to pull the rabbit out of his hat in the end? Lochte was the magician in this instance, hitting the wall at: 1:46.25 (WR Split 1:42) while Phelps tapped in a disappointing second at: 1: 46.27, but oh! You should have seen the expression that crossed Mama Phelps face in the stands just then. She looked positively vexed, ready to go on bong patrol and more, though sister Hilary dutifully applauded, and the swimmers themselves seemed satisfied enough with their times. They drifted side by side as they waited for the final results, Michael’s expression giving nothing away, but when the numbers came in and Lochte was declared winner, I couldn’t help but notice Phelps took a couple of strokes away from his winning neighbor.

Stock photo. (copyright wins this particular race..:)

Let’s hope Mikey keeps those strokes on Lochte in tonight’s finals.

Read one Londoner’s thoughts on the pending Games here: …MY ADVICE TO THE OLYMPIC TOURIST