Ryan Lochte

Michael Phelps has spent plenty of time scaling the highest perch of the medal stand. Ryan Lochte was used to stopping a step or two below. Not anymore. Mr. Runner-up is a world champion. While Phelps remained perfect, winning his fifth straight gold medal at the world championships, another American turned things upside down in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday - if only for a night. Ryan Lochte, a laid-back resident of Daytona Beach, Fla., who sounds as if he just wandered in from the surf, pulled off a stunning upset in the 200-meter backstroke, beating the supposedly invincible Aaron Peirsol with a world-record time.

LONDON - Michael Phelps makes the first of seven attempts to add to his 14 career Olympic medals, three short of the record. Saturday's opener might offer the best race of all. Competition will rage in the 400-meter individual medley as Phelps competes in an event he hates and in which he has recently lost to his biggest rival, the swimmer who manhandled him at the U.S. Olympic trials in July. That would be Ryan Lochte, who will be seeking six gold medals here, including two in events in which Phelps swims, starting with Saturday's much-anticipated final, which represents an extraordinary kickoff for the Olympic competition.

RYAN LOCHTE won two more races at the short-course world championships in Istanbul on Sunday, finishing the event with six golds and one silver. The result matched his medal total from the last championships, in Dubai in 2010. Lochte won the 100-meter individual medley, a day after he broke the world record in the event. The five-time Olympic champion finished in 51.21 seconds, ahead of Kenneth To of Australia and George Bovell III of Trinidad and Tobago. To started well and led at the halfway mark.

THE LATEST round of NHL labor talks ended with the two sides not even getting into the same room with each other. The players' association and league negotiators met separately Wednesday with federal mediators in suburban New Jersey, holding discussions that didn't immediately appear to have moved the sides any closer to a deal to save the hockey season. There was hope going into Wednesday that negotiations could get back on track to the point they were last Thursday before talks fell apart.

Ryan Lochte's bid to match Michael Phelps with eight golds at the short-course world championships was derailed when the United States' 400-meter freestyle relay failed to medal on the opening night of the meet in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. France won, followed by Russia and Brazil. The U.S. team was fourth. Earlier, Lochte won the 200 freestyle. China set swimming's first world record of 2010 in the women's 800 freestyle relay. All U.S. swimmers are wearing the initials of Fran Crippen on their warmup suits.

Mexico got its first win on U.S. soil in more than 10 years yesterday with a decisive 5-0 victory in the championship of the Gold Cup in East Rutherford, N.J. The Mexicans had been 0-9-2 since a March 1999 victory at San Diego. But they shattered that streak before an overwhelmingly pro-Mexico crowd of 79,156 at Giants Stadium with an offensive onslaught in the second half. Captain Gerardo Torrado scored on a penalty kick in the 56th minute, and the inexperienced U.S. squad came unglued.

Protests, accusations and a strange debate about backstroke turns almost overshadowed Michael Phelps' fourth gold medal, his sixth overall, at the Athens Games. On a night the American swim team won five medals, nothing seemed to matter more at the Olympic Aquatic Center than Aaron Peirsol's brief disqualification in the 200-meter backstroke. "It was a twisted, bizarre night, but it turned out OK," said Peirsol, the fifth male swimmer to sweep the backstroke events at the Olympics.

Michael Phelps' grueling schedule in the U.S. Olympic swimming trials has gotten a bit easier. He won't be competing in the 400-meter freestyle. The event was one of nine Phelps had entered during the eight-day meet that begins today. But his name was absent from the 400 freestyle heat sheets released last night. The move wasn't unexpected because Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, had hinted that he would drop the event. Phelps still will be in action on opening day, competing in the 400 individual medley, in which he owns the world record.

Two-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps failed to make the 400-meter individual medley final at the Pan Pacific swimming championships in Irvine, Calif., on Thursday. Phelps had the fourth-fastest time of 4 minutes, 15.38 seconds in the morning preliminaries, but only two swimmers per country are allowed in the evening final. World champion Ryan Lochte was quickest in 4:07.77, lowering Phelps' meet record of 4:10.47 set in 2006. His U.S. teammate Tyler Clary was second in 4:09.

OMAHA, Neb. - Brendan Hansen was done with swimming after two doses of Olympic heartache. The 30-year-old former Haverford High star is feeling a lot better now. Next stop: London. Hansen, who retired from the sport after the Beijing Games but couldn't stay away, made his comeback worthwhile by winning the 100-meter breaststroke on Tuesday night in the U.S. Olympic trials. "It was a really pressured day for me," said Hansen, who owns gold medals for relays but no individual gold.

There were the fashion trends of 2012: Color-blocking continued. Women of all shapes delighted in the return of the peplum. Guys and gals frolicked through town in salmon-pink skinny jeans. Metallic wedged sneakers were retro '80s chic. Ombre hair was hot. Ombre nails were hotter. And Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte brought icy grills back into the fashion fold. But there were also the moments. These flashes in time forced us to rethink our shopping habits, challenged our long-standing stereotypes, and allowed guys to be girls and girls to be guys.

RYAN LOCHTE won two more races at the short-course world championships in Istanbul on Sunday, finishing the event with six golds and one silver. The result matched his medal total from the last championships, in Dubai in 2010. Lochte won the 100-meter individual medley, a day after he broke the world record in the event. The five-time Olympic champion finished in 51.21 seconds, ahead of Kenneth To of Australia and George Bovell III of Trinidad and Tobago. To started well and led at the halfway mark.

THE LATEST round of NHL labor talks ended with the two sides not even getting into the same room with each other. The players' association and league negotiators met separately Wednesday with federal mediators in suburban New Jersey, holding discussions that didn't immediately appear to have moved the sides any closer to a deal to save the hockey season. There was hope going into Wednesday that negotiations could get back on track to the point they were last Thursday before talks fell apart.

WHEN PONDERING the NHL lockout, we can't help but think back and draw comparisons to last summer's London Olympics. Play along for just a minute. Like NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr, swimmer Ryan Lochte had years to practice and focus on his impending battle with incumbent and undisputed pool champion Michael Phelps. Like NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, golden boy Phelps entered London's showdown with his grasp on the sport slipping. His reign was clearly nearing an end after dominating for so long.

A nation mourns: Britain has banned photos of the nude Prince Harry 's princely buff bod to be published by media outlets. ("No naughty pics please, we're British. ") The London newspaper the Guardian reports that, due to pressure from a furious royal family, the infamous nude pics, taken during a strip party in a Vegas resort, have been banned from use by the news media in Britain. The ban on buff Harry's buff bod was effected when Clarence House appealed to the media watchdog org Press Complaints Commission (PCC)

NEW YORK - Over the weekend, Ryan Lochte celebrated his five Olympic medals the way any red-blooded American male would do: by heading to Las Vegas, slipping into a tiny, star-spangled, hot-pink Speedo, and partying alongside Britain's Prince Harry. Lochte's revelry capped off a weeklong promotional blitz by the swimmer and aspiring actor, including a cameo on the CW soap 90210 , a stroll down the red carpet at the premiere of The Expendables 2 , a striptease performance for Giuliana Rancic and Joan Rivers on E!

Congratulations, Ryan Lochte. You just won five medals at the London Olympics. What's next? He's going to Hollywood! That's right. The strapping swimmer has announced his intention to move to Los Angeles. Lochte's agent (that's like a coach who takes 15 percent of everything you own) says that he has already been pitched a number of reality-show concepts in which his client could star. Everyone wants a piece of Ryan. Bachelor host Chris Harrison, referring to his boss, Mike Fleiss, tweeted: "@Fleissmeister just told me he liked Ryan Lochte in his speedo so much he's now on short list for #Bachelor.

WE'VE HEARD the stories about how expensive it can be for families to raise an Olympic-level athlete. Sports like gymnastics and swimming don't just require time, effort and determination, but also a lot of money. Well, Natalie Hawkins, the mother of new Olympic gymnastic all-around champion Gabby Douglas, and Steve and Ike Lochte, the parents of swimmer Ryan Lochte, are feeling the financial crunch. TMZ reported that just a few months ago, Hawkins filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and that the Lochtes are fighting off foreclosure on their home.

LONDON - Michael Phelps spent the day Thursday thinking about all the things he's doing for the final time at the pool. It turns out that included one last win over Ryan Lochte. Phelps finally has a gold all his own at his final Olympics. Adding to an already-unprecedented medal collection, he claimed his first individual victory of the London Games and handed Lochte a double disappointment on his rival's final night in the pool. Phelps set the tone right from the start with a dominating butterfly leg to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight Olympics in the 200-meter individual medley.

LONDON - Rebecca Soni pumped her fist and beamed, a rare display of emotion from the breaststroke queen. Tyler Clary giddily splashed the water, having made up for all the close calls in his career. Both played leading roles on a golden night at the pool for the United States, showing there's more to this team than Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Soni set her second world record in two days to defend her Olympic title in the 200-meter breaststroke Thursday, then Clary dealt Lochte a stunning loss in the 200 backstroke for the first gold of his career.