Ryan Lochte, winner of the men's 400m individual medley on Saturday night, admitted Sunday that China's Ye Shiwen had been a topic of conversation over the dinner table at the Olympic Games.

Ye won gold in the women's 400m individual medley at the London Olympic Games on July 28, 2012. [Xinhua]

Ye won gold in the women's 400m individual medley, a race in which she also set a new world record. Not only that, but she swam her leg of the breaststoke faster than Michael Phelps had done in the men's 400 meter final, while her last 50 meters were actually faster than Lochte had swum on his way to gold.

"We were talking about that at dinner," said Lochte about Ye's swim. "It's pretty impressive. She's fast and if she was out there with me, she might be able to beat me too."

Lochte finished second in his heat of the 200 meters freestyle behind China's Sun Yang, but said he was not too worried about his performance.

"I didn't get to bed until 2am last night and I am really tired, but it was a preliminary swim and I am not too worried," he said.