Ryan Lochte Beats Michael Phelps to Win Gold at London Olympics (PHOTOS)

Michael Phelps Ryan Lochte

6:56 pm, July 28th, 2012

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PHOTOS

Ryan Lochte beat fellow U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps in the 400-meter individual medley at the Summer Olympics in London on Saturday, dethroning the world’s most successful Olympian and cementing Lochte’s rise as one of the stars of these Games.

The 27-year-old won the gold medal with a time of 4 minutes, 5.18 seconds, faster than Brazil’s Thiago Pereira and Japan’s Kosuke Hagino.

“I think I’m kind of in shock right now,” said Lochte following his victory.

PHOTOS BELOW

Phelps, who barely qualified for the event, failed to win a medal for the first time since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when he was 15.

Since then, he’d competing in 16 events — winning 14 gold medals and two bronzes.

It was Lochte’s seventh medal overall, after having collected four golds, two silvers and a bronze over the course of the 2004 and 2008 Games.

After the race, Phelps congratulated Lochte on Twitter, writing, “Congrats to @ryanlochte … Way to keep that title in the country where it belongs!!”

Phelps sounded hopeful about the rest of this Olympiad, tweeting, “Not pleased with my race tonight at all… But tom is a new day! And a new race!!”

He still has six more events in London, and remains two medals behind Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina’s record of 18.

Will Phelps get the record? Will Lochte be the face of these Olympics?

We’ll find out over the next two weeks.

Check out photos from the race below!

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