Ryan Lochte

Ryan Lochte (born August 3, 1984, Rochester, New York, U.S.) is an American swimmer who was one of the sport’s most successful Olympians. His 12 medals, 6 of which were gold, made him the second most-decorated male swimmer in Olympic history, behind teammate Michael Phelps.

Lochte attended the University of Florida (B.S., 2007), where he won seven NCAA swimming titles, including three individual titles in 2006. He first attracted international attention at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, where he earned a gold medal as a member of the victorious 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay team and claimed silver in the 200-meter individual medley (IM), behind fellow American Phelps. At the 2006 Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA; later called World Aquatics) short-course (25-meter) world championships, Lochte set world marks in the 100-meter backstroke, the 200-meter backstroke, and the 200-meter IM. He subsequently set his first long-course (50-meter) world record in the 200-meter backstroke at the FINA world championships in 2007.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Lochte won a gold medal in the 200-meter backstroke, setting a new global standard of 1 minute 53.94 seconds. He was also a member of the 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay team that captured a gold medal; he rounded out his medal haul in Beijing with bronzes in both the 200- and 400-meter IM.

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In 2009 and 2010 Lochte continued his string of impressive performances. At the 2009 FINA world championships, he broke Phelps’s world record in the 200-meter IM and also won the 400-meter IM. He garnered six gold medals to Phelps’s five at the 2010 Pan Pacific championships. Later that year Lochte notched an unprecedented seven medals at the FINA short-course worlds, winning all five of his individual races—two, the 200- and 400-meter IM, in world-record time—and sparking the Americans to a come-from-behind victory in the 4 × 100-meter medley relay; he also won silver as part of the American 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay team.

At the 2011 FINA world swimming championships, Lochte won five gold medals. He twice bested Phelps in head-to-head competition at the meet, edging him in both the 200-meter freestyle event and the 200-meter IM. In the latter race Lochte set the first world record since FINA banned high-performance non-textile swimsuits in January 2010, breaking his own record (set in a high-tech suit) with a new global standard of 1 minute 54.00 seconds. Showcasing his exceptional versatility, he also collected wins in the 200-meter backstroke and the 400-meter IM and helped power the American team to gold in the 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay.

Lochte entered the 2012 London Olympics as one of the favorites, and he began with a dominating win in the 400-meter IM. However, he seemed to struggle in other events, winning silver in the 200-meter IM, behind Phelps, and bronze in the 200-meter backstroke. In team events, Lochte won gold in the 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay and silver in the 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay.

Lochte won three golds (200-meter IM, 200-meter backstroke, and 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay) and one silver (4 × 100-meter freestyle relay) at the 2013 FINA world swimming championships. Two years later he won a world-championship gold medal in the 200-meter IM and a silver in the 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games he won a sixth career Olympic gold as a member of the 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay team.

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However, events outside the pool in Rio overshadowed Lochte’s accomplishments in it. He garnered international headlines when he claimed that on their way back from an event in the early morning on August 14, he and three other American swimmers had been robbed at gunpoint by people posing as Rio police officers. After conflicting accounts and surveillance footage came to light, Lochte admitted that he had fabricated his version of the morning’s events, which actually involved an inebriated Lochte’s damaging a gas-station bathroom, after which he and the other swimmers gave money to armed security 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 photo on social media that showed him receiving an IV infusion. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency opened an investigation and determined that the infusion, which was of an allowed substance, required a therapeutic use exemption, which Lochte had failed to obtain. As a result, in July he was suspended for 14 months.

In 2021 Lochte failed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, and he thus did not compete at the Tokyo Games (originally scheduled for 2020, the Summer Olympic Games were delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic). While not officially retired from competitive swimming, Lochte did not participate in the U.S. Olympic team trials for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.