Ryan Lochte Has 1 Last Chance to Forge a Legacy Separate from Michael Phelps

Let's say you're Ryan Lochte.

When it comes to elite-level swimming in the United States, you're royalty.

You've been on more medals stands than 99.99 percent of the world's aspiring athletes—a stretch topped off by five golds, three silvers and three more bronzes across appearances at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. You've come home from these trips with as much hardware as an NBA dream team.

Your haul is more prodigious, by the way, than all but 20 humans who've ever appeared on an Olympic stage, regardless of their sport—which, by anyone's definition, is pretty amazing.

But in spite of owning three world records and a claim to pool immortality, you've still got a perception problem.

A 6'4" perception problem with the wingspan of a pterodactyl.

Because no matter how well your 11-medal haul stacks up with the Mark Spitzs, Matt Biondis and Johnny Weissmullers of the world, you're still not Michael Phelps.

Or, if you prefer, Michael freaking Phelps.

With his remarkable 22 Olympic medals and preposterous 18 golds, the swimming bard of Baltimore has set the dominance bar at a level only his fellow gods can clear.

And unless your surname is Ali, Jordan, Ruth or Gretzky, it's a fair bet you've fallen short.

Of course, it's nothing to be ashamed about. And if you're seeking solace, there's a good chance guys named Frazier, Pippen, Gehrig and Lemieux have it to spare.

They have halls of fame, MVPs and scoring titles among them, and when they're stacked alongside the rank-and-file riff raff, they deservedly look like giants.

Line them up next to their most famous rivals, though, and it becomes Mutt and Jeff in reverse.

Frazier won the first, but blinked in Manila.

Pippen got rings, but never by himself.

Gehrig came to work every day, but didn't deliver 700 homers.

And Lemieux's a true great, but he's not the "Great One."

As for Lochte, he's the shirtless hunk with a reality TV career, but he's nowhere near "Phelpsian."

Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Still, while it's true that balance won't change unless Phelps has a Lance Armstrong-like fall, it doesn't mean the rivalry's second banana can't do something to better his place before he hangs up his towel.

Toward that end, it's no stretch to say Lochte arrives to the U.S. trials and presumably the 2016 Games needing a reversal of epic proportions to peek out from under Phelps' shadow—and alter the view that he's just a Kardashian compared to his rival's Academy Award nominee. Indeed, in terms of his overall legacy, his time in Omaha and imminent trip to Rio could be make or break.

Lochte's name is listed in six trials events—the 100 and 200 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 200 and 400 IM. He confirmed Friday that he'd swim the 400 IM at the CenturyLink Center, but it's still unclear if he'll do much more than use the 100 free as a launching pad toward the 400 relay in Rio de Janeiro, or if he'll swim the 200 backstroke in Omaha at all.

Whatever he winds up doing, he's got to do impressively. Particularly when he's in the water with Phelps.

Lochte's best chance figures to come in Friday's hugely anticipated 200 IM trials finals, which will be the only Omaha men's race in which an event's two all-time fastest swimmers will go head to head.

Phelps has won gold in the 200 IM at the past three Olympics, but Lochte is the reigning world record holder by virtue of the 1:54.00 he swam while beating Phelps at the 2011 world championships. Similarly, Phelps posted 2015's best time in the event at the U.S. Summer Nationals, though Lochte won gold at the 2015 world title meet.

If a level playing field exists between the two anywhere, it's in the 200 IM. Something even Phelps concedes from his place atop the sport's Mount Everest.

"I can look back throughout my career and say he is probably the one who brought the most out of me," he told USA Swimming. "I've met a lot of people that I have raced, and I guess I have a history with, but with Ryan it is something special. We have been racing since 2004—that was his first Olympic team in Athens. And we've known each other ever since. We swim the same exact races every single meet."

And while Lochte, the Western New York native and University of Florida alum, oozes more casual than combative, those around him suggest scoring a few more points against swimming's Ivan Drago is more important these days than he might let on, too.

"That's just the game face he wants you to see," ex-U.S. Olympian Gary Hall Jr., whom Lochte has labeled his swimming idol, told Men's Journal. "That's just his psyche. No one gets up as early as he does and swims as much as he does because he doesn't care. Trust me, he cares."

The competitive buzz is as much a payoff as the celebrity on the outside.

And Lochte himself admitted Friday that just surviving the gauntlet he's laid for Omaha is a rush.

"I could [limit myself], but then it wouldn’t be fun," he said at a pre-trials press conference. "For me, fun is a challenge. I love having a challenge."

Even if it doesn't tip the legacy scales in his favor.

"Everyone says that if (Phelps) wasn't around or if this were a different era, I'd be the greatest swimmer ever," Lochte told Time. "Any chance that I can race the best people in the world, I'd be more than happy to."