Troubled Lochte back in the pool
STANFORD » The 2013 reality television show “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” lasted one season.
But the real-life drama of Ryan Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medal winner, was unfolding out of control five years later.
Last fall, a drunken Lochte tried to kick in the door to his room at a Newport Beach hotel at 3 a.m., prompting security to call authorities, according to multiple media reports citing police accounts. No arrests were made.
Within 24 hours of the Orange County incident, authorities issued Lochte a citation for reckless driving after his car rear-ended another vehicle on his way home from the airport in Gainesville, Florida, according to a police report cited by media outlets. No one was hurt in the collision.
“It was getting to a point in my life where I needed a change,” Lochte said Wednesday at the U. S. Swimming National Championships at Stanford, where he is racing for the first time since serving a 14-month ban for violating a World Anti-Doping Agency policy.
While suspended — the second ban in three years — Lochte said he entered a treatment center in Florida for alcohol addiction. He said he spent about six
weeks taking classes and following all the recommendations staff experts suggested.
“I’m definitely not the same person I was three years ago,” said Lochte, speaking publicly about his treatment for the first time. “On a daily basis, I’m trying to be the best version that I can.”
Lochte said in a news conference Wednesday that he had a glass of wine last month to celebrate the birth of daughter Liv Rae.
“I don’t care for it,” Lochte said of drinking. “I have bigger and better things going on in my life,” adding that treatment “helped put things in perspective.”
Dealing with a drinking problem is one of the issues Lochte has faced as he tries to rebuild a tarnished reputation. Lochte, who turns 35 on Saturday, is starting over at the championships that runs through Sunday at the Avery Aquatics Center in a push toward reaching his fifth Olympics next year in Tokyo.
He failed to qualify for the 200-meter freestyle final Thursday, which was won by Elijah Winnington in 1:46.19.
“I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone,” he said after completing a time trial in the 200-meter individual medley, one of his signature events.
After three years of questionable actions, Lochte left a considerable wake that began in 2016 with a stop at a Rio de Janeiro gas station during the Summer Olympics. What transpired during that stop led to an international incident that resulted in Lochte’s 10-month suspension by USA Swimming officials.
Lochte admit tedly messed up when initially telling reporters that he and three other members of the U.S. swim team had been pulled over in a taxi by armed robbers with police badges. Published reports of Lochte’s account perpetuated Rio’s reputation as a city unsafe for foreigners.
Lochte eventually acknowledged that he and teammates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen had been celebrating after the conclusion of the swimming competition when they stopped at a gas station. According to reports, the group broke into a locked bathroom door and trashed a soap dispenser and toilet paper holder.
Rio authorities charged Lochte with falsely communicating a crime to authorities. Later, an appellate court in Brazil dismissed the case. Lochte, who lost at least four major sponsors because of the incident, took eight months off during the first suspension. His swim career seemed over.
After serving his time, having a son and getting married to former Playboy model Kayla Rae Reid, Lochte rededicated himself to the pool by reuniting with Gregg Troy, his college coach at the University of Florida.
Then came a second suspension that began May 24, 2018, as a result of an Instagram photo he posted. The photo showed Lochte getting an intravenous infusion that piqued antidoping agency officials’ interest. Lochte said Wednesday the infusion contained a legal substance of mostly B-12 vitamins. He said he took the IV to build up immunity while his wife and son were so sick they had to go to a hospital.
The U. S. Anti- Doping Agency, which oversees drug testing of American Olympians, determined Lochte violated guidelines by getting an IV infusion of more than 100 milliliters in 12 hours without a legitimate medical reason. Anti- doping officials monitor such infusions because they can be used to dilute blood and urine to “mask” the detection of illegal performance- enhancing drugs.
“It was the amount of liquid going through my body through an IV,” Lochte said. “It didn’t matter if it was just water. That’s a no-no and I paid the penalty.”
The ban forced Lochte to miss the 2019 World Championships that ended Sunday in South Korea. As a result, his journey to the Tokyo Games is more complicated because racing tests the body’s capabilities in a way training cannot.
“He’s in a good spot, we just have to find what that spot is,” said Troy, the 2012 U. S. men’s Olympic coach who retired last year after two decades at Florida.
Troy has had almost 70 Olympians in four decades as one of America’s premier coaches. But until this year he never had a swimmer skip practice to take a wife to get an ultrasound or stay home with a sick son.
Lochte said swimming now is secondary to taking care of his family. He has grown since his days where Lochte was known as a quirky character while competing in the shadow on alltime great Michael Phelps. The swimmer with hunky good looks and a laid-back surfer vibe once tore a meniscus tendon while breakdancing in his apartment.
Lochte also was known for mastering grueling workouts created by Troy by swimming up to 9,000 meters a day. No more. “There are days when this old man needs a break from swimming,” Lochte said.
But he does not get a break from being a father. Lochte said he no longer gets a massage or nap after a workout. When he arrives home he takes 2-yearold son Caiden Zane to the park or plays with him at the house.
“Sleep is out of the question,” Lochte said when talking about his newborn daughter.
He has entered five events at Stanford but his coach does not expect Lochte to race in all of them.
“We have some thoughts about what we think we can do but we’re just getting a starting point and try to figure out where to go from there,” said Troy, who also coaches Caeleb Dressel, who last week became the first swimmer to win eight medals at a World Championships.
Troy described Lochte as the fittest 34-year- old he has seen. But as much as he trained in between family responsibilities, Lochte hardly has raced since the Rio Games.
“There is a reason they have preseason football games,” Troy said. “Those guys are a little rusty.”
It makes the chance of appearing in another Olympics all the more difficult but does not deter Lochte.
“I have no rest, no recovery,” he said before concluding, “It is all worth it.”