What Ryan Lochte doesn't get enough credit for
What Ryan Lochte doesn't get enough credit for
Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports college football and basketball columnist | Aug 11, 2016, 12:01 PM
RIO DE JANEIRO - Descriptions of Ryan Lochte invariably center on three things: his Olympic medals, his looks and his reality TV show that made him look like a doofus.
Those things are all worth mentioning, but they create a misleading persona - the hottie airhead glamour boy superstar who is naturally gifted, at least from the neck down. That leaves out one vital element.
Here is what needs to be included in any collection of adjectives used to describe Lochte: blue-collar grinder.
He is a naturally talented swimmer, but he’s also about 6 feet tall in a sport that rewards height and reach. He has overcome that not by being handsome and goofy, but by being tenacious and tireless. If there is anyone in American swimming who has worked harder for longer than Lochte, I don’t know him or her.
So if Thursday night’s 200-meter individual medley showdown with longtime rival Michael Phelps turns out to be Lochte’s last Olympic race - not that he’s given that indication - he should have the respect of everyone who has watched him battle the GOAT all these years.
He’s 32 and unlike Phelps never has taken a significant break from the sport. There have been no retirements and un-retirements. He simply has kept going, from a young age into his aquatic dotage.
“I’ve maybe thought about [retiring] at certain times, and the thought has probably lasted five minutes,” Lochte said. “Then it’s just like, ‘What am I thinking?’ I love the sport.
“When I wake up and don’t want to go to the swimming pool, then I’ll know. Once I think that swimming is a job and not something I want to do, that’s when I will hang up the Speedo.”
Not only has Lochte never hung it up, he never has stopped swimming some of the most demanding events possible. Old guys are supposed to become sprinters, but not him. The alleged pretty boy kept doing the dirty work.
He’s 32 and unlike Phelps never has taken a significant break from the sport. There have been no retirements and un-retirements. He simply has kept going, from a young age into his aquatic dotage.
“I’ve maybe thought about [retiring] at certain times, and the thought has probably lasted five minutes,” Lochte said. “Then it’s just like, ‘What am I thinking?’ I love the sport.
“When I wake up and don’t want to go to the swimming pool, then I’ll know. Once I think that swimming is a job and not something I want to do, that’s when I will hang up the Speedo.”
Not only has Lochte never hung it up, he never has stopped swimming some of the most demanding events possible. Old guys are supposed to become sprinters, but not him. The alleged pretty boy kept doing the dirty work.
He’s 32 and unlike Phelps never has taken a significant break from the sport. There have been no retirements and un-retirements. He simply has kept going, from a young age into his aquatic dotage.
“I’ve maybe thought about [retiring] at certain times, and the thought has probably lasted five minutes,” Lochte said. “Then it’s just like, ‘What am I thinking?’ I love the sport.
“When I wake up and don’t want to go to the swimming pool, then I’ll know. Once I think that swimming is a job and not something I want to do, that’s when I will hang up the Speedo.”
Not only has Lochte never hung it up, he never has stopped swimming some of the most demanding events possible. Old guys are supposed to become sprinters, but not him. The alleged pretty boy kept doing the dirty work.
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