In typical Meyer fashion, adversity reared its head before he could even get in the water as the Olympian. Over the winter, Meyer broke his collarbone in a bicycle accident, forcing him to adjust his training program.

"Something always seems to happen to him before something important in swimming," Staley said. "Yet he has his way of dealing with it. He might have gotten hurt or sick or something, but...he’s always had a way of making it work out. On one hand you worry about it and then on the other hand you say, 'This is Alex, he may just stand on the podium.'"

The Aug. 10 race, one of the latest of the Olympics, is Meyer’s chance to medal for himself, for Crippen, and for the United States.

“I think he has as good of a shot as anybody,” Gray said. “It always comes down to the pack of four to five to six guys in front, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Alex wasn’t up there in that pack. Then what happens in those last 200 yards is anyone’s game.”

If his career is any indication, he’s ready for the adversity of the grueling race.

“I’d like to be on the podium, and I think I have a pretty good chance of that,” Meyer said. “That’s the whole purpose of being there.”

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacobfeldman@college.harvard.edu.