Ryan Lochte biography
Ryan Lochte, in full Ryan Steven Lochte, (born August 3, 1984, Rochester, New York, U.S.), American swimmer who was one of many sport’s most profitable Olympians. His 12 medals, 6 of which had been gold, made him the second most-decorated male swimmer in Olympic historical past, behind teammate Michael Phelps.
Lochte attended the University of Florida (B.S., 2007), the place he gained seven NCAA swimming titles, together with three particular person titles in 2006. He first attracted worldwide consideration on the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the place he earned a gold medal as a member of the victorious 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay crew and claimed silver within the 200-metre particular person medley (IM), behind fellow American Phelps. At the 2006 Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) short-course (25-metre) world championships, Lochte set world marks within the 100-metre backstroke, the 200-metre backstroke, and the 200-metre IM. He subsequently set his first long-course (50-metre) world document within the 200-metre backstroke on the FINA world championships in 2007.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Lochte gained a gold medal within the 200-metre backstroke, setting a brand new international commonplace of 1 minute 53.94 seconds. He was additionally a member of the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay crew that captured a gold medal; he rounded out his medal haul in Beijing with bronzes in each the 200- and 400-metre IM.
In 2009 and 2010 Lochte continued his string of spectacular performances. At the 2009 FINA world championships, he broke Phelps’s world document within the 200-metre IM and in addition gained the 400-metre IM. He garnered six gold medals to Phelps’s 5 on the 2010 Pan Pacific championships. Later that yr Lochte notched an unprecedented seven medals on the FINA short-course worlds, profitable all 5 of his particular person races—two, the 200- and 400-metre IM, in world document time—and sparking the Americans to a come-from-behind victory within the 4 × 100-metre medley relay; he additionally gained silver as a part of the American 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay crew.
At the 2011 FINA world swimming championships, Lochte gained 5 gold medals. He twice bested Phelps in head-to-head competitors on the meet, edging him in each the 200-metre freestyle occasion and the 200-metre IM. In the latter race Lochte set the primary world document since FINA banned high-performance non-textile swimsuits in January 2010, breaking his personal document (set in a high-tech swimsuit) with a brand new international commonplace of 1 minute 54.00 seconds. Showcasing his distinctive versatility, he additionally collected wins within the 200-metre backstroke and the 400-metre IM and helped energy the American crew to gold within the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay.
However, occasions exterior the pool in Rio overshadowed Lochte’s accomplishments in it. He garnered worldwide headlines when he claimed that on their manner again from an occasion within the early morning on August 14, he and three different American swimmers had been robbed at gunpoint by individuals posing as Rio cops. After conflicting accounts and surveillance footage got here to gentle, Lochte admitted that he had fabricated his model of the morning’s occasions, which truly concerned an inebriated Lochte’s damaging a gas-station rest room, after which he and the opposite swimmers gave cash to armed safety guards to pay for the damages. Lochte was subsequently suspended for 10 months by the United States Olympic
Committee and USA Swimming. His troubles continued in May 2018, when he posted a photograph on social media that confirmed him receiving an IV infusion. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency opened an investigation and decided that the infusion, which was of an allowed substance, required a therapuetic use exemption, which Lochte had did not get hold of. As a end result, in July he was suspended for 14 months.
