Small-town guy Tim Phillips goes big at University Games

SHENZHEN, China -- The Summer University Games are hardly the Olympics or world championships. They're not the Pan American Games. For swimmers, they don't even offer a stage on the order of the Pan Pacific championships. Even so, these Games always herald the potential for breakthrough.

If, at next year's U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Tim Phillips makes the team that goes to London it won't be a huge surprise to swimming insiders. He announced himself here with four medals overall, two gold, the top U.S. swim performance of these 26th Summer University Games.

Phillips, who has finished two years at Ohio State, won both the 50 and 100 butterflys. He swam the second leg in the gold medal-winning 400 free relay. He swam the fly portion of the silver medal-winning medley relay.

His effort capped a performance that saw the U.S. team win a competition-high total of 29 swim medals. Japan took 27. New Zealand, intriguingly, took third, with 13.

A couple weeks ago, at the world championships In Shanghai, the U.S. coaches said the American program held unusual depth. Wait, they said, until you see some of these college swimmers.

Again, that's what in large measure makes these University Games such a novel proposition -- the notion of seeing tomorrow's stars today.

Rebecca Soni, for instance, the current Olympic and world breaststroke champion, was a gold medalist in the 200 breast at the 2005 University Games. Dana Vollmer, winner in Shanghai of the 100 butterfly, was also a member of that 2005 U.S. University Games team.

Though the fields here would obviously not match up with those at worlds, it's not as if there wasn't talent in Shenzhen. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh, arguably the third-best all-around swimmer in the world, along with Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, raced here, winning three gold medals, in the 200 fly and the 200 and 400 IMs.

Phillips grew up in West Virginia, of all places, where he went to Parkersburg High School. But he comes from an Ohio State family. His dad, Tom, swam at Ohio State. As a boy, Tim Phillips went to Buckeye football games. He went to Ohio State summer swim camps.

Signing with Ohio State, and coach Bill Wadley, and the new pool there -- one of the best in the country -- was pretty much a slam dunk.

In his first year at Ohio State, Phillips helped the Buckeyes win their first Big Ten championship in 54 years.

At the 2010 U.S. nationals, he finished third in the 100 fly, behind Phelps and Tyler McGill, in 52.41.

A couple weeks later, at the Pan Pacs, he finished ninth, winning the B final, in 52.21.

This is where things started getting even more interesting for Tim Phillips.

At the end of his sophomore year at Ohio State, Phillips moved down to Charlotte, N.C., to train with SwimMAC and coach David Marsh, along with the likes of Cullen Jones, Nick Brunelli, Nick Thoman and Josh Schneider, other U.S. national team members.

There are two spots up for grabs next summer at the Trials in the 100 fly. Unless something goes horribly awry, Phelps is going to get one of those spots. He's the Olympic and world champion in the event multiple times over, including again in Shanghai in 2011, when he wasn't even in tip-top shape.

At the 2010 nationals and 2010 Pan Pacs, McGill finished second, behind Phelps.

The 2011 U.S. nationals took place after Shanghai. Phelps, having already won worlds, opted not to race at nationals. Both McGill and Phillips, though, were there. This year in the 100 fly, Phillips came in first and McGill came in second -- Phillips in 51.69, McGill in 51.84.

For the math-challenged -- Phillips is roughly six-tenths of a second faster in 2011 than he was in 2010. That's a marked improvement, and 2012 is yet to come.

Here in Shenzhen, his winning 100 time, 52.06, reflected more the end of a long summer of racing than a suggestion of anything else; he led the race at the turn and won by more than half a second, over Tom Shields of Cal-Berkeley, who touched in 52.62, making it a 1-2 race for the Americans.

Phillips is an immensely likable 20-year-old from Small Town USA. When he got done swimming at this year's nationals, he said, he had dozens of text messages on his phone, "from, like, everyone at home."

When he won the 100, he pointed to the American flag on his cap. Representing the United States, he said, is "always a big deal for me."

"Every time he goes on a trip," said Wadley, his coach at Ohio State, who was here in Shenzhen,  "he comes back hungrier, he comes back better, he comes back more excited. It has been quite a trajectory."

For Seb Coe, it all comes back to track and field

The one constant in Seb Coe's life has been track and field. At his core he is still the formidable middle-distance runner. He is both champion on the track and champion of the sport itself. That is the prism through which Coe still sees himself, even now, as chairman of the London 2012 Summer Games organizing committee and vice-president of the IAAF, track's worldwide governing body. To not understand this is to make a fundamental miscalculation.

Four years ago, just after Coe was elected to one of the four IAAF vice presidential positions, Lamine Diack -- the longtime IAAF president -- took Coe aside to share a quiet moment. This was in Osaka, Japan, on the eve of the world championships. Diack said to Coe, you have one responsibility, and that is to deliver great track and field championships in London in 2012.

That mission remains to be fulfilled.

Now, Coe is standing again for re-election to that IAAF vice presidential position, the voting next week as the track and field community gathers anew before another world championships, this time in Daegu, South Korea -- an election that comes at a pivotal moment for the sport, the Olympic movement and, indeed, for Coe, because already there is so much speculating about what he might do after London 2012.

Assuming the Games are a success -- what, then, would he want?

He is, in this regard, a victim of his own success and, of course, the mayhem that is daily life in the British press.  Like: Wouldn't Coe make a great president of the International Olympic Committee when that job opens up in 2013! Never mind that you have to be a member of the IOC first and there are four British members already and five would be stretching matters considerably.

For Coe, it all comes back to track and field. That is his lifelong passion.

In a letter sent around the world to the more than 200 track and field national federations announcing his re-election bid -- translated from English to French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese -- Coe writes, "I have no other ambition but to serve the sport that I owe such a huge debt of gratitude to."

Running again for vice-president, Coe said in an interview, is "my way of re-affirming my support for the sport." He added, "I'm taking nothing for granted. It's my way of saying, 'This is what I want to do post-2012. Track and field is going to be my prime focus. I feel sensibly and modestly I've got 10 productive years to support and [help] the sport.

"In life you never want to get too far away from your roots and mine are in track and field."

Ordinarily, it must be noted, an election for the vice-presidential slots of the track and field federation would not be the sort of thing that might merit this sort of examination. But these are uncertain times for the sport and Coe is a most unusual figure -- not just in international sports but, frankly, on the world stage.

The sport is still the anchor of the Summer Olympics. And in Usain Bolt it has produced a mega-star. But it is facing enormous challenges. It must move beyond the shadow of doping. It must grow globally and commercially. It must find innovative ways to attract a young audience.

Change does not come easily to track and field's establishment. The IAAF, for instance, founded in 1912, has in all those years been overseen by only five presidents. Diack has been in office since 1999; he is now 78 years old.

Given Diack's age, there are within IAAF circles amazingly complex -- indeed, fantastic -- succession scenarios that have been floating about for years now.

Then again, it must be said that Diack has been confounding his critics for years now, too.

Coe is quite clear -- abundantly clear -- that this election, to be held Aug. 24, is about the vice-presidential positions. Full-stop.

Six candidates purportedly are in the running for four spots. But it's an IAAF election. Thus the situation is by definition fluid.

The point here is not that others don't deserve support -- Sergei Bubka and Bob Hersh, for instance, are likely to again be strong candidates, and it says something that Hersh is an American in a senior position in an international federation.

The point of this column is that sensible, rational people simply have to look at where track and field is now, where it's likely headed and what Coe offers. The man is a walking idea factory with a demonstrated record of getting people to buy into his ideas. That's called leadership.

The London 2012 bid -- he led it.

Keeping the track in Olympic Stadium after the Games? Large credit to Coe -- working closely with Diack. That's no small thing. The 1996 Atlanta stadium was turned into a baseball field; the track was removed from the 2000 Sydney stadium; 2004 in Athens would hardly make for a study in legacy; the 2008 Beijing stadium is largely a tourist draw now while it awaits the 2015 track and field world championships.

Of course Coe would like to bring the world championships to London, and as soon as possible. At the same time, he said, "There's absolutely no question in my mind we are a global sport and we have to globalize," meaning not only Diamond League events in Africa and "we really do have to be able to plot a path to being able to stage a world championship in Africa -- I think that's really important."

He added, "But always at the same time recognizing there are two wheels on the bicycle and we must always do what we can to protect and enhance what I would call our more mature markets.

"The follow-up to that is that we really do have to have a more commercial global reach. We have to build on what we have done so well and figure out over the next 20 years in terms of marketing where the sport needs to be commercially."

Perhaps the major Coe theme is getting kids off the couch and into a pair of running shoes -- particularly through school-based programs.

"We have to sell track and field to kids in a much more imaginative way," Coe said. For every kid who wants to be Bolt -- what about the one who wants to be Roger Federer? Or David Beckham? Doesn't that kid have to be able to run?

"The physical literacies are all in track and field," Coe said. "Hand-eye coördination, strength, endurance, power, speed. They're all the physical literacies of track and field. If you get that right for young people, [convey] that this is all track and field-based, you'll provide a healthier cohort of young people and, secondly, I think some of them might look at that and think, you know, I was into tennis or football but I like this track and field."

London 2012's international legacy program, dubbed "international inspiration" -- it now reaches 12 million children and young people around the world, in 17 countries, three-quarters of whom are involved in track and field-based activities.

"The one thing I'm very happy to say is that I am very grateful for the generosity of Lamine, when he took me aside four years ago," Coe said, and the second part of that conversation in Osaka, after Diack instructed Coe to deliver a great track meet in London in 2012 was, "After 2012, there will be other things … to focus on within the movement."

To understand Coe is to know the answer to the rhetorical question he asked himself: "What is it I think I'm going to focus on?"

The answer, he said: "More reasons for young people to choose a life in track and field."

Passion and purpose -- the AIPS 'young reporters' program

SHENZEN, China -- The 60 "young reporters" from all over the world had spent their first two mornings in "school" listening to and then asking questions -- lots of questions -- of the secretary-general of sport's top court, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and then the senior media manager of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Heavy, heady stuff from and for Matthieu Reeb of CAS and Terence O'Rorke of WADA.

Now it was my turn, as program director of this first-ever AIPS "young reporters" Summer University Games program, to ask the questions -- not only to see what they had learned but what they could teach us, all of us, amid so much concentrated talk of legal maneuvering and doping jargon.

In a couple weeks, I said, the track and field world championships will take place in Daegu, South Korea. How many of you, I asked, believe the eight guys who ultimately make it to the starting blocks in the men's 100-meter dash finals will be doping-free? Not one hand went up.

I looked around the room. The 2011 Tour de France ran last month, I said. Some people believe it was cleaner than previous Tours. How many of you believe the 2011 Tour was clean? Maybe three hands went up.

And yet -- here's the remarkable thing.

There isn't in this group even a hint of cynicism.

Indeed, on Day One of this program, before "school" launched, we asked each of the 60 young people to take the brave step of getting up on stage and saying a few words into our camera, with all the others watching. Most everyone in the group is in their early 20s; a couple are still in their teens; a few are still in university; others are already working at print and broadcast outlets.

Predictably, some were shy. And then there was Julio Bonnin Cadogan of Paraguay, who got right up and said, you know what, sport is a force for good -- it can do no less than help us all overcome racism in our world, and that's why I'm here, to write stories as an agent for change.

The idealism, the enthusiasm, the curiosity that these young people have brought with them to Shenzhen offer great reminders of why journalism matters -- despite the profound elements re-shaping journalism, and the business of journalism, in these early years of the 21st century.

Too, why a program such as this one can make such a difference in the years and careers of young journalists, and in the legacies of hosts such as Shenzhen 2011.

Here were just a smattering of the smart questions that O'Rorke got asked:

Why isn't Major League Baseball part of the world doping code umbrella?

What is WADA's relationship with Interpol?

What is WADA's view on the propriety of a national Olympic committee entering into a deal with a supplement company?

Reeb, among other matters, was asked to explain in detail the case involving the South African Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee popularly known as the "Blade Runner." (Since being cleared to run by CAS against able-bodied competitors, Pistorius has now met the qualifying standards to compete in the 400 at the forthcoming Daegu championships.)

Similarly, Reeb also was asked to explain the background and reasoning about the case involving the Brazilian swimmer Cesar Cielo, cleared by a CAS panel to swim at the just-concluded 2011 swimming world championships in Shanghai. (There, Cielo won gold in both the 50-meter freestyle and butterfly.)

It's not just idealism, energy and enthusiasm that's on display here in Shenzhen. There's one further element, and it's the ultimate difference maker.

It's passion.

As I write this, it's 12:45 in the morning.

Kelsey Wingerak of Canada is herself in the midst of writing three stories about tonight's Serbia-Canada men's basketball game (won by Canada in a big upset -- the Serbs won the University Games title four years ago).

Jonathan Mishal of Israel just sat down in our 11th-floor workroom here at the Shenzhen Shanghai Hotel to bang out his story. The piece he wrote the day before for his hometown paper -- he just sent that to me as a .pdf, in full-on color.

Thorkell Sigurbjornsson of Iceland, who is a TV guy, just tried his hand at a newspaper-style piece. It just dropped into my e-mail inbox.

A few moments ago, Ozan Can Sülüm of Turkey filed not just one but two stories. "Not sure they need editing," he assured me in a side note.

And then there is Alex Bendaña of Nicaragua, who after just these few days is already a legend. He has cadged more free taxi rides than one would have imagined possible in this sprawling city. How he has done so, because his first language is Spanish and his English is quite good but his Chinese is non-existent -- no one is quite sure.

Alex announced he is staying up, or waking up, at 4 this morning to catch the Real Madrid-Barcelona soccer game, the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup at Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.

Class gets underway again at 10. At best, Alex will be working on three hours sleep. He promised he would be there.

Passion.

Team USA's "unbelievably encouraging" swim worlds

SHANGHAI -- As the race unfolded, it wasn't a question of whether Ryan Lochte would win the 400-meter individual medley. It was by how much. In 2011, he's just that much better than everyone else. After three of the four segments in the race, he was a stunning three seconds ahead of the other American in the race, Tyler Clary, who was in second place.

Lochte went on to win, in 4:07.13, with Clary  four seconds back, capping the final night of the 2011 swimming world championships, a night that not only saw a second world record -- China's Sun Yang, in the men's 1500 meters -- but also saw the American team again assert its dominance.

Remember former USA Track & Field chief executive Doug Logan, and his ambitious goal of seeing the American track team win 30 medals in London next year?

Here, the U.S. swim team won 29. That's seven better than it won at the 2009 world championships in Rome.

In Beijing, at the 2008 Games, the U.S. swim team won 31 medals, 12 gold. The track team may still get the love from the traditionalists but the plain, hard fact is that it's the swim team that carries the U.S. medals count. It did in Beijing and it's all but sure to do so in London, too.

In a twist, the American dominance in Shanghai can be attributed in large measure to the American women, who came on strong across the board, and in particular to the emergence of 16-year-old Missy Franklin.

In Rome, the American women took home only eight medals -- two gold, three silver, three bronze.

Here: 13 total -- eight gold, two silver, three bronze.

With Franklin yelling, "Let's go, USA!" in the stands, Jessica Hardy won gold Sunday night in the 50 breaststroke, a poignant victory after her suspension for inadvertently ingesting a contaminated supplement, with Rebecca Soni -- who earlier had won the 100 and 200 breaststroke races -- taking third. Then Elisabeth Beisel won the women's 400 IM.

"It was great by [Saturday] night and just got greater tonight," the U.S. women's head coach, Jack Bauerle, said when it was all over.

The sudden depth of the U.S. women's program was most evident in the medley relay Saturday, when Franklin anchored a victory in American-record time. That prompted Natalie Coughlin to post afterward to her Twitter feed, "Yay. Gold medal, 4x100 MR. 10 yrs on that relay & 1st GOLD."

The depth on display in Shanghai, moreover, doesn't even factor in a whole host of college swimmers or the likes of Dara Torres or Janet Evans.

Pointing toward London, it's "unbelievably encouraging," Bauerle said.

As for the men -- well, the performances that Lochte and Phelps threw down are surely encouraging.

Lochte won five gold medals and set a world record -- the first since the plastic suits went away at the start of 2010 -- in the 200 IM, edging out Phelps in the race by 16-hundredths of a second.

Asked to reflect on his performance, Lochte said, and he was being dead serious, "I'm not happy. I know I can go a lot faster."

This is the mental key to Lochte's success. "I don't really think I'm the top dog," he explained, adding that no matter what he might accomplish, immediately afterward, "I knock myself right down to the bottom of the totem pole." So, looking toward London, "I have a whole year to work hard, train hard, to get back up there to the top. As far as I'm concerned right now, I'm at the bottom."

Phelps on Sunday night put the American men in position to win the medley relay with his butterfly split; Nathan Adrian swam the winning anchor leg.

Over the course of his week here, Phelps won both the 100 and 200 flys; he also took part in two winning relays; so that's four golds. He took two silvers, both behind Lochte, in the 200 IM and the 200 free; and he was part of the bronze-winning 400 free relay.

In all, that's seven medals -- the most won by anyone here. Over his extraordinary career, Phelps has won 26 gold and 33 world championship medals; both are records.

The medley marked Phelps' last world championship swim. He has vowed that the London Games will see the end of his competitive swimming career. He said in a Twitter post that it was "wild" to think that Shanghai was his last worlds -- his first was in 2001, in Japan -- and "amazing" to finish with a gold medal.

At a news conference, Phelps again made the point that 2011 is a warm-up for 2012. Once more, he said it's time to buckle down:

"I said this 100 times this week and I'll say it 100 more. To swim fast you've got to be in good shape. Ryan is clearly working hard and is clearly in the best shape he has probably ever been [in]. That's why he's swimming how he is. You know, I just need to get back to what I did to get to where I am, and that's hard work and not giving up, and that really is the biggest key for me over the next 12 months."

The challenge for the American men is obviously not Lochte and Phelps.

It's this:

Clary won that silver in the 400 IM and a bronze in the 200 backstroke, both behind Lochte.

Tyler McGill took third in the 100 fly, behind Phelps.

Nobody else won anything.

To be fair, stuff happens. Adrian, for instance, who finished fourth in the 50 free, touched the wall one-hundredth of a second from third place. Nobody's blaming him for that -- that would be ridiculous.

Traditionally, though, the U.S. men are strong in the breaststroke and in a race such as the 100 back. "We know where we've got to get better," the U.S. men's coach, Eddie Reese, said Sunday night.

As for the inevitable -- before the "how many golds can Lochte win in London?" chatter gets overwhelming, remember that the eight Phelps won in Beijing broke down to five individual events and three relays.

One step further: The American men would seem a safe bet for 2012 in two of those relay, the 800 free and medley.

As for the 400 free, though, the one in which Jason Lezak saved the house in 2008 -- the Australians, led by James Magnussen, smoked the Americans in Shanghai. Magnussen went on to win the open 100 here as well. He is a force, and he's just 20 years old.

Magnussen swam the lead-off leg for the Aussies; Eamon Sullivan the anchor. After watching the destruction, Reese had said, "After we saw the first guy from Australia, we didn't know he could stay out there, that they'd stay out there. Their anchor man's got such a great history. He's the guy that scared me on the relay, more so than their lead-off man. But he now scares me more."

On Sunday night, Reese observed, "The world is getting better."

Before the Americans even get to Magnussen and the Aussies, they have to get by the French; after all, the U.S. finished third in that 400 relay, not second.

There's a year for the Americans themselves to get better. And maybe to find new talent. America's college ranks are filled with up-and-coming swimmers, too, Reese said; the U.S. nationals take place in just a few days.

It makes swim freaks geeked up already for the U.S. Trials next summer in Omaha. "I think," Reese said, "it's going to be the best meet any of us have ever seen."

Missy Franklin's breakout moment

SHANGHAI -- The entire American swim team gathered in the stands just behind the starting blocks Saturday night to cheer on the red, white and blue. Ricky Berens, winner of gold in the men's 800 free relay the night before, was among those sitting in the front row. With two laps to go in the women's 200 backstroke, he leapt to his feet. With one lap to go, everyone else joined in. Everyone started yelling, "Go, Missy!"

Go, she did.

Missy Franklin, the 16-year-old sensation, won the 200 back and in the process lowered the American record she had set the night before in qualifying, finishing in 2:05.10. Later in the evening, she anchored the U.S. women's medley relay team to its first victory at a world championships since 1998, in American-record time, 3:52.36.

On a night when Michael Phelps won his second gold of these championships in the 100 butterfly, timed in 50.71 seconds, even he was all too glad to applaud for Missy.

"She's unbelievable," Phelps said just moments after winning his own race. "She really has been able to come on the scene strong and I have said this all along: she's a stud."

Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, had observed earlier this week, "Missy is awesome. I think we'll remember [here] as when it all started. It reminds me of somebody I know."

The fact is, sports needs stars, and right now U.S. swimming arguably has four.

Phelps and, of course, Ryan Lochte, who has had a phenomenal 2011 worlds, with four golds -- so far -- and a world-record in the 200 individual medley. On the women's side, Natalie Coughlin and Dara Torres.

The U.S. women's team features some first-rate swimmers -- Rebecca Soni and Dana Vollmer, for instance, who swam on the medley Saturday, were individual gold medalists at these championships as well.

But, regrettably, most Americans would be hard-pressed to name any female U.S. swimmer but Dara and Natalie, and Dara isn't here, the Americans having picked their team last summer, when Dara wasn't in swim mode.

It may not be right and it may not be fair. But that's the way it is.

All of which only underscores the Phelps phenomenon. Before Phelps, were swim races shown on the big screen at NFL games? Here, a Phelps ad for a sportswear company is all over Shanghai bus stops.

Let that sink in for just a moment. An ad using an American swim star to push sporting gear is all over Chinese bus stops.

And Coughlin, of course, appeared on "Dancing with the Stars."

Swimming needs such stars.

That's why Missy's emergence here is so promising.

Because if she does at the London Olympics what she did here, America is going to swoon for Missy.

By next summer, you'll learn all about how Missy has size-13 feet. She's 6-feet-1. She still has braces on her teeth. Her coaches call her "Missile."

This fall, she'll be a junior in high school. She couldn't be sweeter to talk to. She has unbelievable positive energy.

"You have to go in there and trust yourself and know that if you set your mind to something, you can do it," she had said Friday. "I'm just going to out and represent the U.S. and have a blast."

At that point, she had won a silver in the 400 relay; a bronze in the 50 back; and a gold in the 800 relay, with a 200 split, a 1:55.05 leadoff leg, that would have won the 200 free by more than half a second.

In Friday's 200 back semifinals, she went an American-record 2:05.90.

"… She didn't even know it was an American record. I looked at her after the race," said Elisabeth Beisel, who had placed third in the heat, "and said, 'You know that was an American record? And she said, 'What? No way!' "

In winning Saturday's final, Missy lowered the American record to 2:05.10.

The medley combination -- Coughlin, Soni, Vollmer, Franklin -- ended up only 17-hundredths back of the world record. In a race that over the past several years has not been an American strength, this combination beat the next-closest team, China, by more than three seconds. That's a wow.

"I just knew if I went out there and did my best that my team would be proud of me," Missy said afterward.

"She is barely 16 and so strong and she has the maturity to handle the pressure of swimming," Coughlin said. "I know many of us have spoken … about how special it is. She gets so excited. She's genuinely happy and excited to race, like more so than any other swimmer on this team. All of us are trying to, you know, mimic that as much as possible. It's unbelievably refreshing to have her energy on the team."

Vollmer said, "Like she said, we're mimicking her energy the best that we can. Having someone on the team that comes in and it's just like, 'Ooh, yes, it's prelims!' It's really awesome to have that."

Coughlin: "LIke yesterday, before the 100 free, she said, 'Are you guys excited? Were like, 'Yeah, yeah.' "

At the traditional winners' news conference, a reporter asked Missy, "You're one of the faces of these championships now -- can you sum up .. how you feel?"

If you want to start swooning now, it's okay. Everyone here is.

"There really are no words to describe it right now," she said.

"i am so so happy. I have never been this happy in my entire life. It has been such an incredible meet. Everything was run perfectly. The pool was incredible. The crowd  was so energetic. I honestly couldn't ask for anything better. I am so thrilled right now."

Natalie Coughlin, sitting right next to Missy, said, "See what I mean?"

Lochte, Lochte, Lochte

SHANGHAI -- Another night, two more finals, two more gold medals for Ryan Lochte here at the 2011 swim world championships. He won the 200 backstroke. Japan's Ryoskue Irie took second and American Tyler Clary third.

Then Lochte anchored the Americans to victory in the 800-meter freestyle relay. The French were more than two seconds back, the Chinese exactly three ticks behind.

Lochte's medal count at the 2011 worlds now stands at four golds and one bronze. He has won the 200 individual medley, and in world-record time; the 200 freestyle; the 200 back; and the 800 relay; he took bronze in the 400 free relay, after swimming in the prelims, and swim fantasy leagues -- if there are such things -- can debate why Lochte didn't swim the final.

He presumably has two events left: the 400 IM and the medley relay.

It's abundantly obvious that Lochte is, this year, America's best swimmer.

As well as, overall, the best swimmer in the world.

Again -- this year.

It's all going to get very, very interesting for Mr. Lochte over the next 12 months, between now and the London 2012 Olympics.

The demands on his time and his person are going to be -- well, Phelps-like.

If he didn't know that already, a clue came at a news conference Friday night, after the relay, when a reporter all but shouted, "Ryan, have you ever felt more confident and are you now the U.S.'s main man?"

There's sometimes such little politeness at these events. Michael Phelps was sitting immediately to Lochte's left.

Lochte deflected the question.

"I have a lot of confidence," Lochte said, adding a moment later, "I am just taking each race at a time, each swim at a time and each year a time … I am just going to get ready for 2012."

Phelps, for his part, is hardly having a poor meet. He won the 200 fly. He swam the lead-off leg in the 800 free relay -- by anyone else's standards it would have been great but by his it was only a so-so 200 split -- so he won gold in that, too. He took silver in the 200 free, behind Lochte; and silver in the 200 IM, again behind Lochte. Phelps also has bronze in that 400 free relay.

Phelps qualified in first position Friday for the finals of the 100 fly. He would seem to have that and the medley relay yet to go. His primary challenger in the 100 fly in 2008 and 2009, Serbia's Michael Cavic, troubled by back problems this year, did not make it through the rounds.

Phelps has said repeatedly here that he needs to get himself back into his best shape. He's not in that kind of shape in 2011.

He said Friday night, "I obviously would have liked to have swum faster in the [800]  relay but I've said this every night so far -- hopefully with more training, I can swim faster."

Make no mistake. Phelps hates to lose. But he has been more than gracious in recognizing Lochte.

"I  don't think there's anybody else we want at the back end of the relay than having Ryan there," Phelps said, adding a moment later, "We all set it up and he finished it for us."

There's no tension between the two of them.

But there's bound to be all sorts of stuff floating around, and everything everyone says will be dissected and parsed for meaning, whether it has any or not. This is what is bound to be part of the package for the next year as well.

Clary, coming off the pool deck after the backstroke, before the relay, was asked about Lochte.

Clary spoke at some length. He said, "The whole thing about swimming is that the times speak for themselves. And the fact that in just about every one of his races, he is winning pretty much hands-down does all the speaking that needs to be done.

"He has worked his butt off for years to get here. And you know like I said the other day I am really proud of him. There's -- I'm personally a big advocate of people that have that blue-collar work ethic and I know the way Gregg Troy coaches, I know the kind of physical tear-down they go through the year. It's really neat to see -- someone who kind of is idealized by my thoughts of what a world champion should look like actually starting to succeed. It's really cool."

What about Ryan versus Michael?

"People like controversy," Clary said. "People like to see the greatest Olympic champion of all time possibly, you know, get beat by somebody. People love seeing that. Personally, I'm not interested in it too much. I understand Michael's pretty much the face of swimming right now. But when people ask, you know, what does it feel like to be compared to Michael Phelps, or what's it feel like to be asked -- are you the next Michael Phelps? I'm not the next Michael Phelps. I'm the next Tyler Clary. Ryan feels the exact same way. He's his own person. Michael's his own person."

The next question: is there a changing of the guard? Again, this question came before the relay -- so at this point Lochte had "only" three golds at the 2011 worlds.

"Well, I think if you go by medals alone, I would say, yes, I think Michael's got one gold medal; Ryan's got three golds already. It's a definite changing of the guard. Some people might say, you know, Michael's not exactly on his game. But all that matters on a race is who came most prepared on that day and lately it's looking like Ryan."

Final question -- looking out at 2012, do you discount Phelps' chances?

"Michael's the type of person who has proven he can pull it out of a hat when he needs to. I think anybody who discounts Michael in any way going into next year is going to be not only made a fool but is going to be kicking themselves afterwards. Michael is amazing in that sense."

Jeah, that's a world record

SHANGHAI -- There's a reason high-school gym coaches everywhere are always preaching to get your backside in the gym, telling you that hard work really does pay off, that the people who are most prepared end up winning.

It's true.

Ryan Lochte defeated Michael Phelps in the 200-meter individual medley Thursday night in a thrilling race, setting the first world record of the 2011 world championships -- the first world record in a 50-meter pool since the plastic-suit era ended.

Lochte was timed in 1:54 flat, Phelps in 1:54.16. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, who is a terrific swimmer but has the misfortune of being on the world stage during the same years as Phelps and Lochte, finished third, in 1:57.69.

Lochte had held the previous world record, 1:54:10, set at the 2009 worlds in Rome.

"The only word to describe that race is, jeah!" Lochte said after Thursday's race, which is Lochte-speak for "everything is really, really cool," which for him right now it assuredly is.

He has this week defeated Phelps twice, in the 200 IM and in the 200 free. Over the last year, Lochte has worked out like a fiend. Phelps has only in the past few months started to apply himself again.

To the uninitiated, 16-hundredths of a second may seem like a cruel differentiator. But on such small slices do world records, and championships, rest. At this level, swimming is that exact.

The difference between the two Thursday was rooted in the work each had put in beforehand.

Lochte and Phelps are good friends. Both savor winning. Neither likes to lose, and that's putting it mildly. What we have now is a year in which both have vowed to get their respective backsides into the gym, and the pool, in preparation for London.

Those 2012 Games should thus be an amazing show.

Because Thursday night sure was.

"I wanted to do something that everyone thought wasn't possible since they banned those suits." Lochte said. "Everyone thought a world record would never get touched again. I just wanted to show everyone that can happen. That's why we have records. They're meant to get broken.

"All that hard work I've done this year, and dedication. It definitely paid off."

The fiasco that was the Rome 2009 world championships -- where 43 world records were broken, because of the plastic suits -- was underscored by the specialness of the occasion Thursday. FINA, swimming's worldwide governing body, hauled out a sponsor-plastered backdrop for photo ops at Lochte's news conference; that sort of thing didn't happen in Rome. Why would it? 43 records -- it got to be silly.

To break a world record, said Nathan Adrian, the best American sprinter, "It takes something spectacular, not just great, and Ryan's got it."

Lochte's coach, Gregg Troy, wryly noted that Lochte's effort was "not a perfect swim but probably pretty good for him."

Lochte's final 15 meters in particular, and now Troy was being dead serious, were superb.

He added, referring to Lochte and Phelps, "I think you watched the two best IM swimmers ever. You got a real treat. By the same token," and you would expect a coach to say this, because there's always room for improvement, particularly heading into an Olympic year, and mindful always that Phelps is nearby, "I'm not real pleased with Ryan's performance -- it could be better."

Troy added, "I don't know that we're going to call a few one-hundredths of a second surpassing Michael Phelps but it puts us in a good lead." That said: "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind Michael is going to be at his peak next year."

Before Lochte took the record in 2009, the previous eight 200 IM world records were held by Phelps, dating all the way back to 2003.

As he has grown up, Phelps has become increasingly gracious with that portion of his role that asks him to stop in what's called the "mixed zone," the alley just off the pool deck where reporters wait to talk to swimmers.

He was frustrated enough by the loss that he blew through the zone, then just moments later realized his mistake and issued through a USA Swimming spokeswoman a few words expressing his emotions. He started a news conference later in the evening by apologizing for not stopping in the zone.

He also said, "There's a lot of frustration going through my head. This is going to help me through the tough months of training through the next year."

Phelps' time Thursday is actually seven-hundredths faster than he went in winning gold in Beijing in 2008 -- and, again, he is nowhere near 2008 shape, testament if nothing else to the force of his competitive drive and sheer will.

"I thought I had it [won] with the last stroke," Phelps said. "I felt myself gaining, gaining, gaining," and the stat sheet shows that indeed Phelps swam the last 50 meters faster than Lochte, 27.36 to 27.49.

Phelps was faster on the opening leg, the butterfly, too. But Lochte won the middle two legs, the back and breast.

Bob Bowman, Phelps' coach, said of the race: "It's the small things. I thought [Phelps] lost the race on the last stroke of breaststroke. He totally lost his momentum going into the wall. That's a pretty small thing. But that's what you get when swim every day. You get the sense of that. It becomes, like, innate. He's just trying to invent it right here.

"He's really good, and he kind of remembers what it's like, but it's just not exactly right."

Behind the scenes this week, Phelps said, he and others knew it was going to take a world record to win this race. "It says something that we're still able to do those times," even in textile-only suits, Phelps observed.

Lochte, who had a banner 2010 and is now having an arguably better 2011, "has done all the little small things right," Phelps said, adding, "He has improved his underwaters a ton. he has more comfortable speed than what he had before.

"He is super-focused right now and you can see that. He is putting the races together that are helping him win. To be honest, he is more prepared. Races are always won, things are always won, by people who are most prepared."

No doubt - Phelps wins 200 fly

SHANGHAI -- To watch Michael Phelps swim the butterfly is to watch an artist. We just don't typically think of sports that way. But it's so. His stroke is beautifully fluid. It's also infused with deep family and personal meaning. The 200 fly is the race that was meant for his sister Whitney's 1996 Olympic dreams; injury stopped her short. He took over and the rest is history.

For nine straight years the man did not lose even a single 200 fly. Then, this spring, he lost three in a row, including two to China's Wu Peng, who lined up in the lane next to him Wednesday night here at swimming's world championships.

Doubters -- shame on you.

Phelps won his fifth world title in the 200 fly since 2001, and in convincing fashion, timed in 1:53.34. Japan's Takeshi Matsuda, the bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Games, came in second, in 1:54.01. Wu finished third, in 1:54.67.

In a sign of this country's growing strength in the sport, another Chinese, Chen Yin, took fourth, in 1:55 flat.

One night after coming up just short in the 200 free, a half-second or so behind Ryan Lochte in the 200 freestyle, Phelps not only asserted his dominance in the fly but -- in a second swim Wednesday evening -- looked sharp in qualifying, along with Lochte, for the finals of the 200 individual medley.

In the 200 fly, after he touched the final wall and looked up at the scoreboard, Phelps signaled with his right index finger -- still No. 1. Over in the stands, in another familiar scene, his mom, Debbie, and his other sister, Hilary, hugged each other.

The five titles since 2001 account for every world championships except for 2005 in Montreal; Phelps didn't swim the 200 fly there, he and his longtime coach and mentor Bob Bowman were experimenting with the 400 free, which turned out to be a bust, Phelps not even qualifying for the finals. "We were being dumb," Bowman said.

Throughout the years, Phelps has had an uncanny ability to predict his finishing times in specialties such as the 200 fly; it's like he's a human stopwatch. Talking late Wednesday evening with a handful of reporters, he said he had before coming to Shanghai written down in his journal predictions for the races here. The prediction for the 200 fly: 1:53-low, and that's what I was."

He went on, "I'm a second and a half faster than last year and I feel like I'm kind of getting back. I felt like my old self the last 100 of that race. especially over the last 25. I didn't feel like i was dying, [didn't] feel like i could barely get my arms out of the water, like there was a piano on my back.

"I felt like i was swimming for a whole 200 meters. It felt good."

It did him good, too, Bowman said.

"This one's good," Bowman said. "He needs a little balance. We need a little pat on the back."

"Weeeee I won one!" Phelps posted to his Twitter feed.

He was more elaborate at a news conference: "Having a number of defeats this year was extremely frustrating for me. I didn't like the feeling. I kind of wanted to have the feeling of winning the race again. It feels good to win a race."

A few minutes after he won, Phelps was hooked up for an appearance on NBC's "Today" show. Shanghai is precisely 12 hours ahead of New York; 8:35 p.m. here was 8:35 a.m. there, a just-right slot for Phelps to come on as part of the network's Olympic one-year-to-go show; the opening ceremony of the London Games will be on July 27, 2012.

Sometimes, it seems, things are just meant to be.

Throughout this week, Phelps has made plain that he is not in tip-top shape, at least not yet, which of course makes the win Wednesday all the more remarkable.

Phelps has also made it clear that he has seen the light -- that after months and months of sorta-kinda working out, he needs to really get after it.

If you put in the work, Phelps has said here a number of times, you actually get results.

The trigger, Bowman said Wednesday, was that first loss in the 200 fly -- after the nine years of wins -- back in April in Ann Arbor, to Wu.

"We were both very upset by that," Bowman said.

"That has sort of been my bread-and-butter event, my family's bread-and-butter event," Phelps said. To be able to get it back and keep it, I know what I have to do to be able to be where I want to be.

"I'm headed in the right direction," the exact same words he used the night before, when he came in second to Lochte, and maybe now many more people truly will believe him, because they should. He added, "I'm very pleased."

Daniel Langinbelik's 1:12.52

SHANGHAI -- What 15-year-old Daniel Langinbelik accomplished here Wednesday is, in its way, every bit as great as what Ryan Lochte or Michael Phelps or any other champion did, or will do, at the 2011 swimming world championships. Maybe, to be honest, more.

They ran 14 heats Wednesday morning of men's 100-meter freestyle. Daniel was entered in the very first of those 14. He got up on the blocks. The whistle blew. He didn't false start. He not only finished the two laps in the Olympic-sized pool -- he shaved some seven seconds off his previous best time, touching in 1:12.52, a fantastic display of courage and tenacity.

Afterward, Daniel couldn't believe a journalist wanted to talk to him. To begin, he said, he's shy. Moreover, he said, "I'm only in the ninth grade." Asked about the race, he did allow, "I'm happy."

Then, with the help of his coach, who arrived on the scene, he opened up. True, Daniel is only in the ninth grade. Beyond which, he turned 15 not even two weeks ago -- and until this week, he had never seen an escalator, or an elevator, or stayed in a hotel, or been on an airplane. Well, he might have seen them on television or in the movies but never himself experienced them in the Marshall Islands, which are way out there in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, where he lives.

There's always a world of difference at every championships between the stars, who justifiably get the headlines, and the swimmers who populate the early-morning heat sheets. Nowhere is that difference more pronounced than the 100-meter free, because freestyle is the easiest stroke to teach, no matter where in the world you might be.

Daniel's time, 1:12.52, ended up being the 103rd best time of the 105 guys who finished the race, a full 39.11 seconds behind the day's top qualifier, William Meynard of France, who touched in 48.14.

In this instance, it only proves the point.

FINA, swimming's world governing body, understandably has an interest in promoting the sport anywhere and everywhere. So it underwrites a program to bring such swimmers to championship and other meets. This does two things. One, athletes get to compete against their peers, which should make them all better. Two, it promotes what's called "universality," a term of Olympic jargon that means, more or less, we're all in this together.

The Marshall Islands are but dots on the map of the Pacific. The islands' Olympic committee wasn't even created until 2001; the International Olympic Committee took another five years to then formally recognize it. The Marshall Islands swim team here numbers four -- three swimmers and a coach, Amy LaCost, 43, a merchant ship captain, who swam at Kankakee (Ill.) High School and is a Texas A&M grad.

The other two swimmers on the team -- Giordan Harris, 18, and Ann-Marie Hepler, 15 -- are, in comparison to Daniel, grizzled veterans. Giordan and Ann-Marie, who compete in both butterfly and freestyle events, have been swimming since each was 3 years old; both, for instance, swam at the short-course world championships in Dubai last December.

Daniel just started swimming a couple years ago, and then because some friends were at the pool.

There is a pool on Ebeye Island, with a population of about 15,000 people, where Daniel lives with his two brothers, a sister and his parents. He's the youngest of the family.

The pool is hardly the Olympic-sized 50 meters. It's 25 yards. Also, it's a salt-water pool. That's because the salt water comes from the ocean.

Once a week, they pump the water in from the sea. "So getting used to swimming in meters [as opposed to yards] and in fresh water, where you sink, is important to us," said LaCost, the coach.

It took a full two and a half days for LaCost and her crew to get to Shanghai from the islands, making airplane connections through Guam and then Japan. They're staying here at a Ramada, nothing particularly fancy. FINA is helping to underwrite the cost of the trip, about $14,000 in all.

They've seen some of the sights in Shanghai. To say it's a little different here than Ebeye would be the gentlest of understatements.

On Tuesday night, at the pool, Daniel watched Phelps and Lochte go head to head in the 200 free. He saw two French racers, Camille Lacourt and Jeremy Stravius, tie for the title in the 100 backstroke. He was thrilled by the action.

"He's going to go home and tell 10 to 20 kids what he has seen and everything he has experienced," LaCost said, beaming. "It's one thing when you're in the middle of practice and you're wondering what the pay-off for all that hard work is. Now he can see it, and now he can tell these other kids, and then maybe we can get them to come out and do this, too.

"That's what the investment is all about.," she said. "That's what all of this is all about.

"I couldn't be more proud of him. Just couldn't be more proud."

Lochte beats Phelps. Lesson: hard work pays off

SHANGHAI -- Coming into these 2011 swimming world championships, Michael Phelps observed that he had lacked motivation but had found it again. His coach, Bob Bowman, declared, "We did a year's worth of training in nine months. How that worked, we're going to find out -- shortly." It's not quite enough.

Ryan Lochte beat Phelps in the 200-meter freestyle Tuesday night by about a half-second. Lochte is a major talent in his own right, and he deserved this victory, absolutely deserved it, because as he said at a news conference afterward, "All that hard work that I've done actually paid off."

There's a lot of racing left at these championships -- Lochte and Phelps, who are good friends, will square off again in the 200 individual medley -- and if Lochte ultimately emerges the big winner here, it means the mainstream press is going to have a big time over the next year, in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympics, proclaiming the emergence of The Big New American Swim Star, while wondering if Phelps' star is diminishing, if not diminished.

Not so fast.

Again, Lochte is an incredible talent as well as a great personality. He showed up behind the blocks Tuesday night wearing his beloved shiny green high-top sneakers. Coming off the medals stand, he sported a diamond grille in his teeth. This year, he's favoring a new shorter haircut instead of the longer curly locks he used to sport.

Lochte likes to say, "Jeah!" which is his way of saying he likes something a lot. He's great with kids. He's genuinely funny and humble and USA Swimming loves to use him in a variety of its promotions.

He and Phelps are such pals that Phelps, who is notoriously anti-social in the ready room before races, actually will talk to Lochte there. Indeed, before this 200 free Phelps had his music up so loud -- it's always Lil Wayne or Young Jeezy -- that he and Lochte were singing aloud together to the music. Way before they got there, Lochte had posted to his Twitter feed, "Me and @MichaelPhelps gotta eat these swimmers like Anthony Hopkins tonite. Let's go #USA, #JEAH"

All of that.

Lochte won gold in the 200 backstroke in Beijing in 2008 and bronze, behind Phelps, in both the 200 and 400 IMs. They teamed up to help win gold in the 800 Beijing free relay.

Lochte is a way better athlete now than in 2008, a "completely different" swimmer, he said Tuesday, "a lot stronger" and "a lot smarter," a guy who eats better and trains like he wants to win.

This, though, is a constant: He is one of the very few swimmers who has no fear of racing Phelps. Never has. As he put it simply Tuesday night, "We both want to win."

For sure, Phelps' amazing career has been marked not just by his desire to win but by an almost pathological revulsion to losing.

As good as Lochte is, what's now at issue is that Phelps is back in the game, and for real. He said late Tuesday night, "I'm happy to be back in the water again," adding, "I probably haven't had that feeling since '08."

So here's the deal, and you can bet both swimmers and their camps know it:

Lochte is in great shape. Phelps is not.

Even so, over the final 50 meters, Phelps -- who has always been a great closer -- swam faster than Lochte. Phelps went 26.66. Lochte went 26.95.

Imagine if Phelps was in better shape and was able to get over on his turns, and kick out better on those turns -- points that Bowman noted afterward. These technical points may seem like swim geek stuff. They're not. They're power points that win races.

Imagine, too, if Phelps was in better shape and able to carry the race through all four laps the way he wanted. He had said beforehand that the guy who flipped first at the third turn was going to win. Phelps flipped first at the first and second turns but then the race got away from him; he was third at 150; Lochte flipped first at that third turn.

The final scoreboard: Lochte 1:44.44, Phelps 1:44.79.

For Phelps to be back down in the 44s, though -- as Bowman put it, "The year I've had -- thank you. We're very happy with that."

There's this, too:

The 200 free has been one of Phelps' signature races. When Australia's Ian Thorpe set the world record in the event at the 2001 worlds, 1:44.06, it was thought unapproachable -- until Phelps broke it six years later, at the 2007 worlds, going 1:43.86.

At the 2008 Games, Phelps then lowered the mark to 1:42.96.

At the 2009 worlds in Rome, amid the plastic-suit craziness, Germany's Paul Biedermann not only beat Phelps -- Phelps has called it a "beat-down" -- but took the record, lowering it to 1:42 flat.

That mark is totally suspect, though Phelps has never said so.

Phelps on Tuesday beat Biedermann, who finished third, in 1:44.88, almost three seconds back of that 2009 time. "Yeah, the suits helped," Biedermann said at a news conference after racing Tuesday.

Phelps, who later Tuesday night had to swim hard to qualify for the finals of the 200 fly, said, referring to the 200 free, "With the training that has happened over the last six to eight months, that's all I had in the tank. I would have loved to win. I think this is something that is going to help me, a lot, over the next year."

He also said, "I think I know where I can get and what it takes to get back there. I know I can go faster than that. I know for sure I can go faster than that. That's not even a question. Like I said, I am pleased with where that is now.

"But that time won't win a gold medal next year."

Which, after all, is the end game.