Oh-lympics: Swimming

There are, of course, several excellent swimmers competing in the London Games. None of them, however, are as recognizable as Michael Phelps, who holds the record of having the most gold medals in a single Olympic Games. He won 8 gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, besting the 7 gold medals Mark Spitz won in the 1972 Munich Games.

In the coming Games, Phelps will be hard pressed by competitors to keep his golden streak alive. He's basically competing in the same events he competed in during the Beijing Games but several opponents seem to have improved immensely in the last year to pose a realistic challenge to Phelps.

Let's go through some of those competitors.


200M FREESTYLE

Paul Biedermann (Germany) - Lochte and Phelps may be concentrating to hard on each other to notice the 2009 World Champion creeping up on them.

Biedermann barely registered on Phelps' radar in Beijing but has been winning consistently since then. In fact, Biedermann won over Phelps in the 200m Freestyle back in 2009. If Phelps don't watch out, this German may steal the show, and a gold medal, from Phelps.

Possibility of winning: 33%


200M/400M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

Ryan Lochte (USA) - Lochte already beat Phelps twice last year, relegating Phelps to the silver in the 200m Freestyle and the 200m Individual Medley. In the London Games, both Lochte and Phelps are favored in this event...except that, since Lochte has shown he can beat Phelps in a major swimming competition, Phelps' confidence may be shaken a little. If so, this can be the crucial factor that gives Lochte the gold medal.

Possibility of winning: 40%.

100M BUTTERFLY

Milorad Cavic (Serbia) - The now iconic underwater picture showing Cavic touching the wall first but Phelps hitting the wall harder to register a .01second margin of victory shows just how big a chance Cavic or, for that matter, others like him have in beating Phelps in this event.

Possibility of winning: 49.9%.