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Tyler Clary is one of the best swimmers in America you've never heard of. And when you learn who his main competition has been, you'll see why.

During the 2008 Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Clary placed just out of Olympic bids in both the 400 individual medley and 200 backstroke. In the back, he lost to Aaron Peirsol, who may well be the best swimmer ever in that stroke, and Ryan Lochte, arguably the fastest swimmer in the world today. In the IM, the guys who grabbed the Olympic spots were Lochte and a guy named Michael Phelps.

"In the 200 backstroke, it practically took a freaking world record just to make the team," Clary said during a recent interview.

But during this year's Omaha Olympic Trials and the London Games beyond, the 22-year-old from Riverside, Calif., may finally be ready to emerge from the shadows cast by some of swimming's biggest names.

Peirsol has retired. Phelps may drop the 400 IM from his swim program. And with Clary rising in his own right, winning medals at the past two world meets, the opportunity for big things is there.

"I'm ready to go to Omaha," he said. "It doesn't matter who I'm swimming. I will throw down when I have to."

Clary isn't just a brash talker. He said he's always been ultra-competitive, whether it's swimming, checkers or badminton. "I can't help it," he said. "I am a racer at heart. That hugely characterizes me."

At the Omaha trials in 2008, Clary finished third in the 200 back and fourth in the 400 IM, a grueling event in which competitors swim 100 meters of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. Only the top two in each event qualified for Beijing.

You might think he would have been terribly disappointed to come so close but fall short. But at the time, he was a 19-year-old who had just completed his freshman year swimming at the University of Michigan. While he had hopes of making the Olympic team, he had no expectations at all, he says.

In the end, he didn't think it was too bad at all to swim the fastest times of his life and come in right behind some of the world's best.

"I remember sitting there and thinking after the trials were over, 'It sucks that I'm not going to Beijing, but there's nothing I could have done better,'" he said. "I wouldn't call it a bad experience at all. It was, at that point, pure motivation."

Inspired, he showed the next year he was ready to perform on the world stage. After qualifying for the world championships in Rome, he finished just three-tenths of a second behind Lochte to claim the silver medal in the 400 IM. He was fifth in the 200 fly.

This summer, he came home from the Shanghai world championships with another silver in the IM and a bronze in the 200 back. Lochte, as part of a dominating performance at worlds, took gold in both events, and will likely be favored for gold in both in London, too.

Still, Clary's performances last year give him a lot of confidence heading into this Olympic year. Now Omaha is the focus. He said he knows he has an incredible amount of work ahead of him if he's going to achieve his goals.

But one thing is clear: he won't be intimidated by the competition.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1130, henry.cordes@owh.com

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