Phelps Lags Behind Lochte and Misses a Medal

After winning every Olympic event he entered in 2008 for a record eight gold medals, Phelps, a 16-time medalist, failed to win a medal of any kind in the opening event of his fourth and final Summer Games.

He finished fourth, and looked listless doing so. He never led in a race that his American rival Ryan Lochte won by nearly four seconds — with the same seeming ease as Phelps four years ago at the Beijing Games.

Lochte, who was 10 seconds slower than Phelps in the 400 I.M. in 2004 and four seconds behind him in Beijing, said, “Tell you what, it was weird not having Michael with me on the medal stand.” He added, “Whenever Michael swims, he’s always on the medal stand, no matter what.”

It was a shocking development for Phelps, whose stranglehold on so many events allowed him to emerge from a relatively niche sport into a global marketing presence. He created so much distance between himself and the rest of the world over the last eight years that everyone was inspired — no, forced — to work harder and dream bigger to try to bridge the gap.

No one has chased Phelps more doggedly than Lochte, who, after losing to him in both individual medleys in Beijing, spent the next four years decreasing his sugar and fat intake and just as drastically increasing his mileage in the pool and his muscle.

As Lochte moved to catch and pass Phelps, Phelps hardly committed to intense training in the two years after his performance in Beijing. Such a career turn was not only predictable but also the main argument people made in trying to persuade him to retire after his historic romp in 2008. What other mountain could Phelps find the motivation to climb?

He had the hubris to believe that he could freeze the clock, especially in the 400 I.M., an event in which he had not competed in an international final since Beijing.

The events that Phelps swims are among the hardest, and with every passing year, his body’s rebellion grew harder to ignore. He has spoken of not recovering as well between sets, workouts, seasons. Mark Spitz was 22 when he retired, and it was not coincidence that many of the top swimmers throughout history left the sport well before they approached their 30s. It is hard physically, mentally and emotionally to remain buoyant.

Phelps’s London Games debut — the first of seven events he is expected to compete in here — was his worst showing in an Olympic final since a fifth-place finish in the 200 butterfly at the Sydney Games in 2000. He was 15 years old then, and so callow he forgot to tie his suit before one of his races. When Phelps spoke last week of wanting to recapture his teenage self from those Games, he meant the fun, not the finish.

Phelps, 27, entered Saturday night’s final at the London Aquatics Centre as the most seasoned competitor in the history of the event. The owner of the world record since August 2002, he was the two-time defending Olympic champion. With a victory, Phelps would have become the first male swimmer to win an event in three consecutive Olympics.

But he is not out of chances. He is also the two-time defending champion in the 200-meter individual medley — a race in which he will again face Lochte — as well as the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter butterfly.

From the opening butterfly leg on Saturday, Phelps could not keep pace with Lochte, his decade-long rival, an ominous sign given that Phelps is the fastest butterfly swimmer in history. And in the final 100 he failed to catch two other swimmers: Thiago Pereira, who finished second to give Brazil its first medal in the event since 1984, and Kosuke Hagino, the top qualifier for the final, who was trying to become Japan’s first Olympic champion in the event.

That Phelps lost to athletes from countries with no recent history of success in the event is further evidence of his ripple effect. On his way to becoming the greatest swimmer ever, Phelps became the current that has carried all swimmers further than they once believed possible.