Ryan Lochte

Ryan Lochte has rose to new popularity in the past year or so in his success in the Olympics. He is an eleven-time gold medalist (five gold, three silver, three bronze). He individually has the world record in the 200 I.M. (meter and yards), and 400 I.M. (yards). Another record he has includes the 800 free relay. Ryan is not only great at I.M.'s, but he also specializes in backstroke and freestyle. Awards he has won include World Swimmer of the Year, American Swimmer of the Year, and FINA Swimmer of the Year. Lochte earned each of these awards twice so far in his career. International medals include 39 gold, 13 silver, and 10 bronze; with a total of 62.

Swimming wasn't Lochte's favorite sport while growing up. Rather, he enjoyed misbehaving. He like to pull on other kids' legs, blow bubbles, and hide out on the other side of the pool. Every time his father (also his coach at the time) saw him goofing off, he was sent to the showers. It was said that he spent more time there than actually in the pool. Realization hit after a sore loss at Junior Olympics. He said "that he was tired of losing". He finally started to take the sport seriously and worked hard when he was a junior in high school. After that, he never lost at that meet again.

Phelps and Lochte have always had a rivalry going on. In 2008 people really started talking about the two head figures. In my opinion, Phelps will always be a better swimmer overall. Although, this past games, Ryan has done a great job. He is getting more and more popular due to his accomplishments. I hope he will just be getting better and better!

Olympic History of Swimming

Swimming was featured in its first Olympics in 1896 in Athens. Back then only men could compete. Six events were planned to be swam, but only four actually were. These were the 100 m, 500 m, 1200 m, and the 100 m for sailors. Alfred Hajos of Hungary was the first gold medalist; winning the 100 and 1200. His time was 1 minute and 22 seconds. This is much slower than the times today. Presently the world record in the 100 meter free for the men is 47.05 seconds. They kept improving in each games, adding more events. Later on the first elastic swim suit would be created by the sweater company Janzten.

Women started in the Stockholm Olympics  in 1912. Although, they only took part in the 100 free and 400 free relay. Men had the same wide range of events they always had. Also at these games, a swimmer from Hawaii won the 100 m free by using 6 kicks to each stroke cycle. He got those skills from the natives of his home islands. The variation evolved into today's freestyle.

In 1922, Johnny Weissmuller, was the first man to swim the 100 m free under a minute, using the six kick crawl mentioned earlier. Weissmuller started the golden age of swimming. He won 5 Olympic medals and 36 national championships, on top of never losing a race in his 10-year career. Afterwards he retired and starred as Tarzan in a film. Johnny's record in the 100 yard is 51 seconds, standing for 17 years. During the same year, Sybil Bauer was the first female to bet a man's record in the 440 m backstroke world record. Innovations in 1924 include cork line divides, and lines at the bottom of the pool to aid the swimmers. New rules are still being added currently.

Missy Franklin

Missy Franklin started swimming at the age of 3 by the urging of her mother. She grew up in Denver, CO, but she has a dual citizenship in Canada. Both of her parents are Canadian. Missy qualified at the age of 13 for the Olympic Trials. Her best turn-out was in the 100 freestyle with 37th place. In 2012, she finally made the Games. Her mother wanted her to compete for Canada, to avoid the pressure of U.S. swimming. Overall, she chose the states. I think we're glad for that decision!

Franklin is a 4 time Olympic gold medalist in the 5 medals she has. She won all these at the Games in London 2012. You must also keep in mind that she is only 17 years old; making her the one of the youngest people on the U.S. swimming team this year. She holds the 200 backstroke world record, both in short and long course. Also Missy has the American record in the 100 and 200 meter back.

London 2012 was her first Olympics. There she swept the backstroke events (100 and 200). Missy's accomplishments made her Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year, American Swimmer of the Year, and previously she earned FINA Swimmer of the Year in 2011. Over her career so far, she has won 12 international medals. This includes seven gold, three silver, and two bronze.

After the 2015 Swimming and Diving Championships, Franklin will turn professional. She will continue to grow and prosper. I know we all are so excited for what see she can do in her very, very bright future.

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is the most decorative gold medalist Olympian of all time, with 18 medals. In total he has 22 medals. In London 2012, he won 4 golds and 2 silvers, making him the most successful althele for the third year in a row. Phelps is the longcourse world recorder holder in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, and the 400 I.M. He was formally the record holder in the 200 I.M. and 200 freestyle. He's won a total of 71 medals in international meets over his career. Awards are not it low supply either. Michael has received World Swimmer of the Year Award 7 times, American Swimmer of the Year 9 times, and Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the year. Also, after the 2008 Olympics, he started the Michael Phelps Foundation, which promotes swimming and healthy living.

Phelps began swimming at the age of seven. This activity helped Michael deal with his ADHD. By age 10, he held a national record for his age group. Soon after he began training with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, under Bob Bowman, his life-long coach. Many other age groups followed, and at age 15, he qualified for the 2000 Olympics. This made Michael the youngest male swimmer in 68 years. At the 2001 World Champions trials, he broke the 200 meter butterfly world record. This made him the youngest male world record holder, at 15 years and 9 months. Later at the Fukuoka World Championships, he broke his own record again in the 200 fly. During the 2008 Bejing Games, there was a large doping controversy. People thought he was "too good to be true". In response, he joined Project Believe, an anti-doping organization. He took many tests, and past them all.

The 2012 London Olympics was the last of Phelps's career swims. He is now retired and living life to the fullest. He has found he is very good at golf and enjoys doing that. People all over the world will always remember his as the greatest swimmer of all time. Michael Phelps will always be in our hearts and is an inspiration to us all.

History of Swimming

The first recording of swimming was about 7,000 years ago, during the Stone Age. Early competive swimming in Europe started around 1800, mostly the breaststroke. John Aurther Trudgen, in 1873, introduced the front crawl, before used by the Native Americans. Today this stroke has evolved into the freestyle. Freestyle is probably the most recognized and easiest to master of all the strokes. Orginally, Trudgen used the scissor kick instead of the present day flutter kick. This was due to the British dislike of splashing.

Their were many earlier signs of swimming. Cave men were found in the "Cave of Swimmers" in Southwest Egypt, near the Libyan border. The images seemed to be showing breastroke and doggie paddle. The only downfall to this theory is that they might have been about a non-swimming topic or ritual. An Egyptian clay pot from between 9000 and 4000 BCE showed four swimmers doing variations of the front crawl. Other sights have been shown over the years all over the world.

Swimming was introduced to the 1896 Athen's Olympics. In 1902, Richmond Cavill gave the art of swimming to the Western world. The international swimming association, known as the FINA, was created in 1908. Butterfly, then a variation of breastroke, was made in the 1930's. It was later made its own stroke in 1952. New additions on all strokes are being made today. People are willing to do anything to make their sport faster.