Can Ryan Lochte win a record nine Olympic golds? Trademark: Lochte has a diamond-encrusted grille over his teeth Swimming does dominate his life. Lochte swims for 24 hours a week over six days, clocking up about 110,000m. As well as doing six hours a week of weight-training in the gym, on Sundays he does a two-hour intensive workout with his strength coach, the former Strongman competitor Matt DeLancey. I watch Lochte curse his way through the routine the next day outside DeLancey's garage. He flips enormous 650lb tyres - a movement that he says helps his backstroke start - and drags 580lb shipyard chains up and down the road. He tosses a 130lb keg and clean-and-presses an 87lb metal "log." It's un­orthodox and looks dangerous, but Lochte made a decision to try things his rivals wouldn't - anything to give him an advantage. "He works hard and he's not afraid to throw up," DeLancey says proudly. Lochte has not always been so dedicated to training. He grew up with two older sisters and two younger brothers, first in New York then in Florida, when his father, Steve, moved south to coach a swimming team. Lochte learnt to swim when he was five. His mother, Illeana (also a swimming coach), taught him the textbook technique he is known for; his father worked on his speed. But despite being talented, he was often kicked out of practice for misbehaving - pulling other children's legs, blowing bubbles or hiding at the other end of the pool. "He was a pain in the butt," his father has said. I would send him to go shower when he was messing around. He spent more time in the showers than he did in the pool. Lochte always loved racing and competitions. But it was losing, yet again, at the Junior Olympics aged 14 that changed his attitude to training: "I suddenly said, 'I'm sick of losing'. After that I trained hard and I never lost there again. VIDEO: Ryan Lochte's punishing and 'tyring' strength routine Despite his intensive training schedule now, Lochte has not lost his playful side - he still pulls pranks, including putting muscle-rub cream inside his teammates" swimming trunks, gleefully waiting for their faces to register the burn. "I love to goof around," he says, smiling. But as soon as I'm on those starting blocks I'm focused. I want to win. In 2002 he won a swimming scholarship to study sport management at the University of Florida and started swimming for the college team, the Florida Gators (he has an alligator tattoo on one shoulder). He turned professional in 2006. Troy, 51, the head coach of the Gators, is from this year the head coach of the US Olympics men's swimming team. Lochte says he is fed up to be still living in Gainesville five years after graduating, but says, "Everything I have is here; the best facilities and the best coach. Gregg's like my second father, I can trust him with anything. Obviously we butt heads, but that happens to all coaches and athletes. Two days later I see evidence of this: as Lochte surfaces from a tumble turn, Troy, clearly displeased, dumps a bag of floats on him and barks, "You're never going to beat Michael Phelps if you don't train!" One length of fast crawl later, Troy, placated, shouts, "Better." Lochte does not suffer from nerves ("It's pointless") or a lack of self-belief ("I have never gone into a race not thinking I could win it"). Before the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne he said,"I can beat Michael." He did not. But, ever the joker, when Lochte stepped up to the podium, he opened his mouth to reveal the diamond grille. It was the first time he had worn it, for a dare, and his glittering grin cracked up Phelps. "Some of that was Ryan being Ryan," Troy says, "and some of it was to disguise the disappointment. He does not like being second. RYAN'S ROUTINE: 'It's eat, swim, eat, swim, eat, sleep. 7.30am: wake up and eat a banana 8-10am: swimming training. Drink 2x Gatorade throughout 10.30am: breakfast: four eggs, three pancakes, bacon, bowl of cereal, orange juice, glass of milk 12.30pm: salad with pulses and grains, chicken sandwich, yogurt, apple 1.45pm: banana 2pm-4pm: swimming training. Drink 2x Gatorade throughout 4.15pm: 2x peanut butter sandwiches 7pm: steak, chips, salad 10.45pm: peanut butter sandwich 11pm: bed After he finished runner-up to Phelps yet again, in the 200m IM in Beijing, something in Lochte flipped. I just said, 'enough'. He returned to Gainesville with a three-pronged plan. First was introducing the Strongman workout into his training. Second was his diet. During the Olympics Lochte had regaled reporters with his diet of McDonald's for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Phelps's coach, Bob Bowman, joked that if Lochte ever gave up fast food, "we could be in trouble." Lochte still eats between 8,000 and 12,000 calories a day - four or five times the amount most men need - but now includes salad and fruit. That is not to say high-fat food is off the menu - as we speak, Lochte is munching pizza, and he allows himself a few alcoholic drinks one night a week. Thirdly he adopted a new psychological technique. After the World Championships in Manchester in April 2008, where he won four golds and set two world records, he told himself he was the worst swimmer, convincing himself he was the underdog. I like to be the hunter, it helps me to motivate myself. He now does this every summer, to reset his mind. So when I ask him what it feels like to be the fastest swimmer in the world, he says, "I honestly don't think I am. I don't allow myself to think that. The triad approach paid off. Lochte beat Phelps in 2009, in the 200m IM at the summer American championships. "He hasn't beaten me since," Lochte says. Even after setting the new world record in 2011 he was not entirely happy. I know I could have gone faster. It wasn't the perfect race and that's what I've been working on since, making sure my hands slice the water at the right angle, making sure I nail every turn. I want to have the perfect race in London. Can he really beat Phelps's record gold-medal tally? "I know it is possible," he says. It's just a matter of how many events my body can physically handle in a row. The races are gruelling, particularly the medleys: "Once I touch that wall, I feel like I need a lifeguard or something. Honestly, your legs go in the backstroke. After the breaststroke, your arms go and then after that your whole body's hurting. In addition some of the races will be held minutes apart (as they were in Beijing), notably Lochte's specialities, the 200m IM and the 200m backstroke finals. RYAN'S STRONGMAN WORKOUT Metal log (87lb) clean and press (SETS: 6 REPS: 6) Keg toss (130lb) (SETS: 6 REPS: 6) Truck tire flip (650lb) (SETS: 6 REPS: 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4) Floor press (one minute with a 55lb plate) Standing overhead press (one minute with a 55lb plate) Standing bentover row (one minute with a 55lb plate) Sledgehammer swings (SETS: 5 REPS: 20) He plans to compete in the 2016 Olympics, and will decide then whether to stay in the sport. When he retires he wants to move into fashion. "I've always loved experimenting with clothes and I think it could be fun to design them," he says. He has what could be described as an eclectic fashion taste. He wears green rhinestone-encrusted hi-top trainers that he designed himself, which leave imprints on the wet poolside from the words 'ryan' and 'lochte' stamped on the soles. In practice sessions, Lochte wears pink polka-dot Speedos. "I don't like being the same as everyone else," he says. That's just my personality. His personality - along with his record-breaking wins - has attracted deals. Speedo has sponsored Lochte since 2006, signing a reported 10-year, seven-figure sum with him, and myriad endorsements have come his way, from sports drinks to life insurance. Ralph Lauren, which will design Team USA's uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies in London, has appointed him one of its 2012 Olympic ambassadors. His main extravagance, along with his car, has been the house five minutes from campus where he lives with a roommate and his 21-year-old brother, Devon, a student at the university ("I don't want him to want for anything, I just want him to focus on school"). Other than that, he says money is not important to him. "What I care about most is my charities," he says. Sinking feeling: Michael Phelps looks at the scoreboard that confirmed Lochte's status as world champion He is most animated when talking about the muscular dystrophy charity for which he helped secure funding by lobbying senators in 2008 ("I don't get nervous before races, but I did talking to those guys") or the foundation set up by the parents of a 12-year-old boy who drowned in a river near his home in Georgia. The Crutchfields are, he says, like his second family. He is especially close to their daughter Savannah. On her birthday in June he called her from a swim meet. "How many young men would do that for a 12-year-old girl," her mother Maggie Crutchfield said. Savannah, for her part, has told Lochte that his green trainers are the "dorkiest" things she has ever seen. Lochte's charisma is refreshing. "Swimming is so disciplined that you hardly ever see anyone's personality," he says. I love to race, and when I'm in the water that's all I'm thinking about, but afterwards I'm smiling and giggling and having a good time. I think if I'm myself then people will be able to relate to that. And with that he throws away his empty pizza box and heads off for a cocktail. Ryan Lochte is the Ralph Lauren brand ambassador throughout the 2012 Olympic Games.