Ye could have beaten me, Lochte says

By Clara Ferreira-Marques

LONDON (Reuters) - American swimmer Ryan Lochte may have unseated world record holder Michael Phelps in the 400 metres individual medley, but he said on Sunday 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 400 individual medley on Saturday, 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 29.75 seconds, faster than record holder Phelps did in the men's final, then the last in 28.93, which was quicker than Lochte did when he claimed gold in the men's race.

"We were all talking about it at dinner last night, it's pretty impressive," Lochte told reporters after recording the second-fastest time in the heats of the men's 200 freestyle.

"She's fast. If she was there with me, maybe she would have beaten me."

It would certainly be a close call.

Lochte's finishing time over the 400 metres was more than 23 seconds ahead of Ye, but she swam her last 100 in 58.68, compared to Lochte's 58.65.

"It was a heck of a swim," U.S. team coach Gregg Troy, also Lochte's personal coach, said.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)