Olympic star Ryan Lochte said Friday that he tries to maintain a sense of humor and perspective despite his intense focus on swimming -- one that leaves him little time for romantic relationships or much else besides training and competing.
Track star Sanya Richards-Ross talks about her Olympic hopes and getting over her past defeats.
If you've been mesmerized by the drama, like millions of other viewers watching coverage of the Olympic Games, you have heard the most heroic, inspirational stories of athletes reaching the pinnacle of international competition. Or, at least you think you have.
Former Olympian and chairman of the 2012 Olympics Sebastian Coe discusses Michael Phelps' legacy with Piers Morgan.
Gymnastics once again takes center -- or is it centre? -- stage Thursday when the women compete in the individual all-around. Here's what to look for in that and other top events:
How on earth could a teenage swimmer at her first Olympic Games knock five full seconds off her previous best performance? That's what has left so many people scratching their heads after watching China's Ye Shiwen smash the world record in the women's 400-meter individual medley.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams tells CNN that doping allegations made against Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen are "pure rumors."
Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen has strongly denied that she's a drugs cheat following a series of record-breaking swims at the Olympics in the past few days.
French swimmer Yannick Agnel won his second gold of a triumphant Olympics with a dominant performance in Monday's 200 meters freestyle final.
When Chinese teenager Ye Shiwen dives into the pool on Monday, all eyes will be firmly on the clock to see if she can repeat her world-beating -- Ryan Lochte-beating -- time in the last 50 meters.
Ryan Lochte wins gold while Michael Phelps settled for fourth place in the 400 meter individual relay.
Two world records tumbled in the Aquatics Centre Sunday while France claimed two golds including a stunning upset in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay.
Ryan Lochte won the United States' first gold medal at the London Olympics with an outstanding performance in Saturday's 400m individual medley.
OMAHA -- It may have been Michael Phelps's 27th birthday, but it was the sellout crowd of 14,335 at Omaha's CenturyLink Center that got a treat on Saturday. In another head-to-head race with Ryan Lochte that delivered suspense and goosebumps are there two other athletes anywhere who so reliably deliver on their hype? Phelps won the Olympic trials 200-meter individual medley, touching the wall in a world's best time of 1:54.84, nine one-hundredths of a second ahead of Lochte and nearly four seconds ahead of third-place Conor Dwyer. For those keeping score at home, that gives Phelps two close wins to Lochte's one in their three head-to-head matchups here so far.
1. The United States will not lead the medal table in London. China, which didn't fully compete in the Olympics until 1984, will conquer the overall medal standings for the first time, completing its rise into sports superpower status. The Chinese led the Beijing Games with 51 golds, but the U.S. had 110 total medals to the host nation's 100 to top the table for the fourth straight Olympics.
1. Bolt disqualified. It was a bit like seeing Old Faithful oversleep or Big Ben lose track of time. At the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, in August, Jamaica's Usain Bolt, the Olympic champion and world's fastest man, false-started and watched the final of the men's 100 meters from the sidelines. In his absence, Bolt's 21-year-old teammate, Yohan Blake, won the race in 9.92 seconds (Blake would follow up a few weeks in Brussels by running the second-fastest 200 in history, .07 seconds behind Bolt's record of 19.19). But a sprint race without Bolt is really Christmas without Santa. His explosions out of the blocks are among the few athletic viewings that can leave spectators in awe. Instead, his mistake left the running world in a state of aw-shucks.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 5. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer.
Five things we learned from the swimming world championships, which closed Sunday night in Shanghai ...
SHANGHAI -- You know you've captured the world's attention when reporters start asking for details about your kicking strategy. And so it was that Ryan Lochte, having won two more gold medals Friday to add to a World Championships pile that already included two golds and a bronze, sat in a news conference at the Oriental Sports Center and pondered his underwater kick count.
American Ryan Lochte claimed his third and fourth gold medals in the world swimming championships in Shanghai, and has a possible fifth gold on the horizon.
Beaten again by a record-breaking effort from U.S. rival Ryan Lochte at the world swimming championships in China, Michael Phelps says he now has all the motivation he needs to bounce back at next year's London Olympics.
How do you top eight gold medals in a single Olympics? Don't ask Michael Phelps, because he doesn't plan to try.
Olympic champion Michael Phelps admitted it was good to be back on the winning trail after securing his first gold medal at the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.
A dramatic fightback from Ryan Lochte secured a thrilling victory over Olympic champion Michael Phelps in the men's 200m freestyle at the World Championships in Shanghai.
One of the biggest questions looming over the 2011 World Swimming Championships, set to begin in Shanghai on Sunday, was resolved on Thursday when the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the world's fastest man in water, Cesar Cielo of Brazil, could defend his world titles in the 50- and 100-meter freestyles despite testing positive for the banned diuretic furosemide in May. (Though the immediate issue of eligibility has been put to rest, the controversy surrounding the CAS decision has surely just begun.)
Ryan Lochte stories in the SI Vault
These are some of the outstanding male athletes, listed in alphabetical order, in Olympic sports for the year 2010. Last week, we looked at some of the top female athletes.
Ryan Lochte doubled his gold-medal haul on the final day of the 10th FINA world short-course swimming championships in Dubai on Sunday.
Ryan Lochte of the United States broke his second world record and claimed his third gold at the world short course swimming championships in Dubai on Friday.
American Ryan Lochte secured the first individual world record of the year with victory in the individual 400m medley at the world short course championships in Dubai.
China have smashed the women's 4x200m freestyle relay world record on the opening day of the world short course championships in Dubai.
On Monday night, Ryan Lochte won his second-consecutive Golden Goggles award as male swimmer of the year in the United States. The six-time Olympic medalist captured six golds this past summer at the Pan Pacific Championships, the season's major competition for U.S. swimmers. Earlier in the day, Lochte stopped by the SI offices to chat with our staff about his background, his accomplishments, his laid-back attitude and his sense of fashion.
A giant of the track and field world passed away last week, when Hal Connolly died at age 79. Connolly won the gold medal in the hammer throw at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, then continued a lengthy career of distinction, competing in three more Olympics and missing out on a fourth at the 1972 Olympic trials. Over his career he broke the world record in the event six times over a period that lasted more than nine years. His final record-breaking throw in 1965 sailed 233 feet, nine inches. Years later, Connolly admitted to using steroids during his career, when they were not yet illegal and their consequences were not widely known.
Swimming star Michael Phelps has failed to reach the final of the 400-meter individual medley at the Pan Pacific Championships on Thursday, missing out at a major event for the first time since 2005.
Surely the Olympic rings were turned on their sides this past week. Two giants of their respective sports suffered rare defeats when Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps each lost races.
Surely the Olympic rings were turned on their sides this past week. Two giants of their respective sports suffered rare defeats when Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps each lost races.
Record-breaking swimmer Michael Phelps was left stunned when his golden run at the U.S. national championships came to an abrupt halt, leaving his overall title tally stuck on 50.
Serbia's Milorad Cavic erased Michael Phelps' 100m fly mark from the world record books as he bids to take revenge on the American for defeat in the Beijing Olympics last year.
Ryan Lochte stepped out of the shadows on Thursday night and set his own world record, one of 29 set at these world championships. With teammate Michael Phelps watching from the stands, Lochte took down Phelps' mark in the 200-meter individual medley, lowering the record Phelps set at the Beijing Olympics from 1:54.23 to 1:54.10. Lochte led the race at every 50-meter segment and held off Hungary's Laszlo Cseh by a second.
Michael Phelps has lost his men's 200-meter individual medley world record -- a mark he has held for six years -- after fellow-American Ryan Lochte claimed gold in the world swimming championships in Rome in a new best time.
Sacre bleu. The U.S. relay team fricasseed and flambéed the French again. On a night when six world records fell in seven events at the FINA world championships in Rome, the race that didn't produce one nevertheless held a headline. This was France's chance to undo the choke of Beijing, when Jason Lezak chased down Alain Bernard in the final strokes to keep Michael Phelps' bid for eight golds alive and reduce French boasting to a fine dice.
Michael Phelps swam the first leg for the winning U.S. 4 x 100 meters relay squad as the first day of competition in the pool at the world championships in Rome saw six world records tumble.
Swimming events begin Sunday at the FINA World Championships in Rome. This will be more than just the Michael Phelps show, though Phelps will swim in six races (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly 200 butterfly and three relays) and will likely come away with six more medals. Here are some of the things for fans of the U.S. team to look for at the championships:
Aaron Peirsol has won the 200m backstroke at the U.S. swimming championships in a world record time, to add to the world mark he set in the 100m earlier in the week.
It was just a chance to get his feet wet, but Olympian Eric Shanteau managed to surprise himself.
The gold medalist says "having a girlfriend would be out of the question right now"
Michael Phelps' bid to win an unprecedented eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics is loaded with land mines, or perhaps water mines, in several individual events and at least one relay. This is a look at what Phelps has in store during the nine days of swimming events. Remember that all finals will take place during the mornings in Beijing, which is 12 hours ahead of East Coast time in the U.S. The morning swimming sessions begin at 10:00 AM in Beijing; evening sessions begin at 6:30 PM.
Phelps dominates
updated: Fri Aug 15 2008 10:10:00
Michael Phelps wins his third gold medal. CNN's Larry Smith wraps up the day from Beijing.
Already touted as the greatest ever Olympian, Michael Phelps dominated the 200-meter individual medley on Friday to pick up his sixth gold medal at the Beijing Games -- and then immediately kept alive his chances of a record-equaling seventh.
At 6:30 p.m. in Beijing on Thursday night, following an afternoon that featured about as much rain as Noah experienced, the Olympic medal count between China and the United States was tied at 32. (China now holds a 35-34 lead). Of course, if you're judging by gold medals won, China is pounding the Stars and Stripes 22-10. Good news, America: Michael Phelps is back in the pool on Friday.
Michael Phelps was smiling through pain during his first race at the Olympics. Imagine what will happen when he feels good.
The final turn of the men's 400 individual medley on Aug. 9 could be the difference between success and failure in Michael Phelps' quest to win a record eight gold medals in swimming.
Dara Torres booked her place on a fifth Olympic team at the age of 41, after an unlikely triumph in the women's 100m freestyle at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska.
OMAHA, Neb. -- Having just won the 400 freestyle in American record time, Larsen Jensen was happy, buoyant and radiating confidence in the mixed zone at the Olympic swimming trials in Omaha last Sunday. That is, until the subject of his next event, the 200 freestyle, came up.
They wore matching high-tech Speedo LZR suits and swam in a temporary pool designed for speed. But even as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte pushed each other through a dramatic record chase at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials on Sunday night, what brought the crowd of 12,000 to its feet was not merely the clock but also the sight of the greatest swimmer in the world struggling -- in one of his best events, the 400-meter individual medley -- to fight off an unexpectedly formidable rival.
Katie Hoff showed no signs of fatigue as she battled through another grueling race and won the 400 meters freestyle just 24 hours after she set a world record in the 400 individual medley at the US Olympic trials.
Kirsty Coventry continued her remarkable exploits at the world short-course championships by claiming the oldest mark in the swimming record books on Saturday.
SI.com: Ryan's hopeupdated: Sat Mar 31 2007 16:25:00
You are Ryan Lochte. You are a great swimmer, but you are also 22 and it is 2007 and your timing is lousy. For starters, you are a backstroke ace. Backstrokers look up at the stars all the time anyway, but you look up and see Aaron Peirsol, perhaps the greatest backstroker in history. Coming into the world championships here in Melbourne, Peirsol hadn't lost a race at 200 meters since the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Australia's Libby Lenton produced a couple of upsets to take her tally to five golds at the world short course championships -- with two more titles on Sunday's final evening.
America's Ryan Lochte set the first world record at the world short course swimming championships in Shanghai with a new best in the men's 200 meters individual medley on Friday.
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