Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte will continue with the next step of their comeback as they will both partake in the Bulldog Grand Slam at the University of Georgia this weekend.
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According to The Associated Press, the event was put together in the past few months in an attempt to give the country's top swimmers another race to aid in their conditioning.
“The meet, hosted by the Athens Bulldog Swim Club at Gabrielsen Natatorium, was hastily arranged in the past few months to give the top U.S. swimmers a chance to take part in another event this summer before the two more important competitions of the year. The national championships will be held in Irvine, California, from Aug. 6-10, followed two weeks later by the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia.”
This will be Phelps’ fourth event since coming out of retirement as he is on the path to competing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Phelps has won 18 gold medals in his career and is looking to add to the total after assuring the world that he was done with competitive swimming.
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Lochte, on the other hand, is returning from knee surgery after tearing a ligament attempting to catch an overzealous fan. Lochte made his return in April for an Arizona meet and had to back out of his last two events after working the knee too hard in earlier events. Athens will tell us a lot about Lochte’s rehab and his quest to improve on his 11 Olympic gold medals as he has entered seven events.
Phelps will compete in the 100-meter butterfly Friday, the 100-meter backstroke Saturday, and the 100-meter freestyle Sunday. Lochte has signed up for all three of those events as well as another four.
The rest of the field at Athens includes gold medalists Allison Schmitt, Tyler Clary, Cullen Jones, Yannick Agnel of France and Ous Mellouli of Tunisia. Phelps' North Baltimore Aquatic Club and Lochte's SwimMAC Carolina are two of the teams in the field.
[ESPN]
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