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Phelps Watch: 200-meter individual medley

Event: 200-meter individual medley

Time: 10:48 p.m. ET

At stake: A sixth gold medal and 11th straight Olympic win

Possible spoilers: Ryan Lochte

Analysis: Michael Phelps has been on cruise control since Monday morning. He's won three gold medals since then, but hasn't had to swim his best in order to land the top step on the podium. We take Phelps' dominance for granted because he makes it look so easy, but his Olympic slate is unbearably grueling. There's a reason Phelps has the most gold medals of all-time; it's because nobody has ever had the talent, drive and stamina to pull it off.

Strange as it sounds, it's probably been hard for Phelps to get motivated for events like the 200 butterfly. Sure, it's the Olympics, but Phelps' swimming schedule has been like a marathon and the past few days have been the 15th through 20th miles -- far enough in to be exhausted, too far out from the finish to get a second-wind. The end is in sight though and with Ryan Lochte poised to challenge for the gold today, that much-discussed 'Phelps Fatigue' will be negated now that Phelps actually has someone to race.

Unfortunately for Lochte, he'll likely be suffering from a very real 'Lochte Fatigue' this morning in Beijing. Lochte will be swimming the 200m backstroke (an event in which he shares the world record with teammate Aaron Piersol) at 10:19 a.m.. Then, 36 minutes later, Lochte will dive in the pool next to Phelps in the 200 IM. NBC's Rowdy Gaines called it the most difficult scheduling he's ever seen in any Olympics. As a result, Lochte better hope for gold in the backstroke, because it'd be amazing if he was able to turn around and earn one in the IM against the greatest swimmer of all-time.

Prediction: Gold: Phelps (USA); Silver: Lochte (USA); Bronze: Cseh (HUN)

Other predictions: Women's 200m breaststroke: Jones (AUS); Men's 200m backstroke: Piersol (USA); Women's 100m freestyle: Zhu (CHN)

Notes: Amanda Beard (USA) failed to qualify for the semifinals of the women's 200m breaststroke... World record holder Lisbeth Trickett (AUS) made it into the finals of tonight's 100m freestyle only after China's Jiayang Pang was disqualified yesterday for a false start... Aaron Piersol (USA) will be looking to become the first man in history to repeat in both backstroke events at the Olympics... Katie Hoff and Kate Ziegler (USA) continued their disappointing meet by both failing to qualify for the 800m freestyle final. Ziegler is the owner of the second-fastest 800 time in history... Phelps will also swim in the 100m butterfly semifinals this morning.

Photo via Getty Images