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China's Ye Shiwen cleebrates her win in the 400m individual medley - Source: Reuters
American swimmer Ryan Lochte may have unseated world recordholder Michael Phelps in the 400m individual medley, but he said today that he may have just been beaten by the women's champion - a teenage girl.
China's Ye Shiwen devastated her opponents in the women's 400m individual medley yesterday, unleashing a sprint finish in her last two lengths that would - respectively - have beaten Phelps and Lochte, two of the world's fastest men.
The 16-year-old covered the penultimate length of freestyle in 29.75s, faster than record holder Phelps did in the men's final, then the last in 28.93s, which was quicker than Lochte clocked when he claimed gold in the men's race.
"We were all talking about it at dinner last night," Lochte told reporters, after recording the second-fastest time in the heats of the men's 200m freestyle.
"It's pretty impressive. She's fast - if she was there with me, maybe she would've beaten me."
It would certainly be a close call.
Lochte's final time over the 400m was more than 23 seconds faster than Ye, but she swam her last 100 in 58.68s, compared to Lochte's 58.65s.
"It was a heck of a swim," said US team coach Gregg Troy, also Lochte's personal coach.