{"id":31397,"date":"2012-07-27T19:38:45","date_gmt":"2012-07-28T00:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/uncategorized\/2012\/07\/new-term-for-phelps-lochte-rivalry\/"},"modified":"2015-08-20T15:04:40","modified_gmt":"2015-08-20T22:04:40","slug":"new-term-for-phelps-lochte-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/new-term-for-phelps-lochte-rivalry\/","title":{"rendered":"New Term for Phelps-Lochte Rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full wall-to-wall coverage, including photo galleries, athlete interviews, recaps and columns are available at the Event Landing Page<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Commentary by Jeff Commings<\/i><\/p>\n

PHOENIX, Arizona, July 27. WITH all the media hype and buzz surrounding the rivalry between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, it's surprising that no one has come up with a word to shrink the two names into one, not just for ease in speaking, but to give this storyline a unique brand that could last long after the two finish racing in London next week.<\/p>\n

Many of the combined names in the lexicon are from the romantic union of two people: Brangelina, Bennifer, TomKat. But why not merge two names in a sports rivalry? Don't think it's been done before — though there aren't many sport rivalries that match the magnitude of Lochte and Phelps.<\/p>\n

Casey Barrett first used the term “Phelpte”<\/b> last year in a column on his Cap & Goggles website<\/a>, and today's edition of The Morning Swim Show<\/i><\/a> features the term “Phelpte”, though we first uttered it by mistake during a taping of our Race Day<\/i> coverage of the U.S. Olympic Trials about three weeks ago. In her attempt to say “Phelps and Lochte,” Tiffany Elias' brain somehow merged the two into “Phelpte.” We all laughed at it at the time, and didn't really think much of it after that, at least not until we taped today's show.<\/p>\n