Jeah. If you want to get inside swimmer Ryan Lochte's head, start there.
Jeah. That's "yeah," with a J. Pronounced: JEE-ah, preferably in a lilting falsetto voice.
"It has no meaning," Lochte says. But then he says, and has said before, it means "everything." At the very least, it means "good." Happy. Two golds in the 2008 Olympics, five at the 2011 World Championships, and a plan for even more in London.
Jeah. It's a sample, Lochte's own personal play off of rapper Young Jeezy, who often grunts "chea" in his songs. It's a worldview. The skater-surfer ethos - Lochte loves ramps and waves - this fidelity to a you-can't-make-me life.
"I'm not going to live my life the way people want me to live it," Lochte says. "I'm going to live my life the way I want to. I follow what <I>I</I> feel."
Jeah. It's a shoe! You'll surely see it in Omaha during this week's U.S. Olympic Swim Trials. Jeah is green capital letters stitched into the yellow leather accent of a rhinestone-studded Speedo high-top, the tongue of which is fat and gaudy, like Air Jordans in the early 1990s. The street swimmer.
"He is so genuine - he knows exactly who he is," said swimmer Natalie Coughlin. Well, <I>jeah</I>. His shoes' soles have his name embossed into them. When he's on the pool deck, his wet footprint bears his name.
"I think it's hilarious," Lochte says. He laughs.
Jeah is part of Lochte's out-of-the-pool performance. Jeah helps him get his own line of Speedo gear. And, jeah, a fashion magazine cover, too.
But dive under the surface of jeah and find what Lochte's coach, Gregg Troy, calls a "fiercely aggressive competitor" who now works harder and longer than most swimmers.
A guy whose dryland training regimen is right out of "Rocky." Pushing over tractor tires. Throwing beer kegs. Doing lifts with a 55-pound weight in his trainer's driveway.
"He's a <I>trainer</I>," Troy said emphatically of the 27-year-old. "He puts the time in."
A guy who has entered 11 events at the Trials and is bluntly ready to challenge Michael Phelps' swimming supremacy there.
"When people think of swimming, they do think of Michael Phelps - just because of what he's done for the sport in 2008," Lochte said, referring to Phelps' record eight gold medals. "But you know what? This is my time. This is my year. All that hard work I've put into the water is about to pay off. This is my time. And I'm ready."
Jeah was once a joke between Lochte and Phelps. Perhaps it is still. At the 2008 Olympics, they texted and yelled the word at each other. "Jeah!" Phelps said as Lochte gave an interview in Beijing. "Jeah, jeah!" Lochte cheerfully said in return. It was a simpler relationship then. Phelps as king, winning golds every other night, seemingly - the machine on a mission. Meanwhile, Lochte - the supporting actor - won a smaller share while wolfing McDonald's, the only food he thought he could trust to eat in China. Grease in his gut while he pounded out strokes.
"I wasn't satisfied," Lochte says. "I knew I could do a lot better. I just changed some things. I changed my diet. Started eating healthier. And I changed my weight regimen."
Lochte switched publicity firms, from behemoth Octagon, which handles Phelps, to a personalized management team. Lochte swam at the University of Florida and still trains there - that's where Troy coaches- and now funnels his media requests through Erika Wright, a former Miss Louisiana. Want to talk to Ryan? Talk to her.
Because of Lochte's looks and persona - he wore the oversized reading glasses at press conferences before NBA stars found it fashionable, and he'll gladly puff up the rivalry between him and Phelps - he's in high demand by the media.
"That's why you can't get a hold of him right now," Troy said weeks after Lochte gave his final interviews. "We've had to manage it pretty closely."
It's worked, Lochte said. Wright helped score Lochte the cover of Vogue, where he's arm-in-arm with Serena Williams and soccer player Hope Solo. Only one other male athlete - LeBron James - has ever been on Vogue's cover.
He never had that treatment, he said, at Octagon.
"I kind of felt like I was getting all the hand-me-downs that Michael didn't want," Lochte said of his old agent. "I wasn't able to call them and just talk to them. I got a lawyer to get me out of the contract."
So he rolled into Shanghai last year and stole the show away from Phelps at the 2011 Worlds, winning the 400-meter individual medley - once Phelps' signature event - by more than four seconds. He beat Phelps in the 200 IM and 200 freestyle events, too.
"It's not a fun feeling," Phelps said of the losses. "It's never a fun feeling. ... It super-frustrated me."
At the time, Lochte said he was frustrated, too. The best performance of his career - one of the best ever, removing Phelps from the equation - and still unhappy. Unhappy with his times. Unhappy by being left off a 400-meter medley relay.
This is the constant push-pull of his nature. Troy - whom Lochte regards as a "second dad" - has seen it. The 27-year-old is easygoing and unflappable. Maybe even a little naïve, Troy said.
But the other side of Lochte is aware of everything, with higher standards than people realize. He wants Phelps in every possible race; they could face each other six times in Omaha. He said in the spring it'd be "dumb" if Phelps skipped the 400 IM in Omaha. Phelps waffled for years on it, keeping his goals a secret.
"There's no secret with me," Lochte said.
Phelps has been coy on his plans to swim the 400 IM in Omaha. If he does, he and Lochte will duel Monday night, live on NBC. He's openly courted the rivalry while simultaneously saying it "doesn't matter" what Phelps does.
There is <I>jeah</I> Lochte. The one who loves Lil Wayne and his glitzy teeth - "I'll wear diamonds in my mouth," he says - and tears up his left knee while break dancing, as he did in 2009. He won't stop doing as he pleases.
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"If I get injured, it's not the end of the world," he said.
And there is <I>just</I> Lochte. The one who admits he trusts people easily, but adds: "Just not the devil inside of them."
He sees the shadow Phelps has cast over the sport. He wants to emerge from it. But he also admits his rival's ability to juggle swimming, training and fame has been impressive.
If Lochte leaves his footprints all over the water like he will the pool deck, he'll have to face the same crush of attention Phelps did.
Bring it on, Lochte said.
"You don't expect to lose, right?" he said. "No. Whenever I go up on the blocks, I never feel like I'm going for second or third."
Jeah. Here it comes.
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