It's Showtime - Top 5 rivalries of 2012 London Olympics

3. Michael Phelps vs Ryan Lochte

Mark Spitz, Doug Russell, Jim Montgomery.. The list of great Americans in the pool is never ending. 16 Olympic medals, at the first sight, some might be wondering if it’s the overall medal count of countries like Azerbaijan or Lithuania! Though it’s true, it’s not relevant here. We are talking about ‘The Baltimore Bullet’/’The Flying Fish”. The smaller minded people know him as Michael Phelps. His unprecedented success at Beijing(eight gold medals) earned him Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Sportsman of the year” award in 2008. Set to compete in seven events in London, like other defending champions as mentioned above, he will have to sweat it out in order to do an encore of his 2008 heroics. His biggest rival will be his fellow American Ryan Lochte. They have been going head to head for the past 8 years, with Lochte being the underdog on paper. They share 11 world records between them(Phelps-6, Lochte-5) and we could expect to see a few more crumble at the grandest stage. It’s all but assured that Michael Phelps will earn the three medals he needs to pass Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina as the most decorated Olympian of all-time, but can he over power Lochte this time, when one of the greatest rivalries take center stage at London? Time will definitely tell.