Ryan Lochte has put Rio 2016 behind him as he looks to qualify for his fifth Olympics in Tokyo a year from now.
The six-time Olympic champion admits he has had several “bumps in the road” over the past four years and described the postponement of Tokyo 2020 as a “minor bump”.
The 35-year-old generated international controversy following a drunken incident at a petrol station after the swimming had concluded at the Rio Games, and was suspended by USA Swimming for lying publicly about the incident which cost him dearly both in terms of money and reputation.
Then in 2018 he was suspended by USADA just before the US Nationals for receiving intravenous fluids without a therapeutic use exemption, alerting people by posting a picture on social media.
Looking back at the incident at Rio 2016, Lochte accepts the ramifications of his behaviour in Brazil four years ago but is now firmly focused on looking ahead.
Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / Mia Rossiya Segodnaya
He told the Daily News:
“It was a mistake that happened in my life that I paid for.
“I’m human. I made a mistake and that was a big cost to me and my family and now I’ve moved forward from that and I’m going to keep moving forward and focus on my family and focus on, hopefully, making my fifth Olympics.”
Lochte was speaking ahead of the airing of a documentary titled “In Deep With Ryan Lochte” by NBCUniversal’s new streaming service.
The content, produced by Peacock and NBC Sports Films, will be available to stream on Wednesday July 15.
The 12-time Olympic medallist knows he has a popular image but it is one that he wants to dispel, insisting he is a hard-working family man.
“I’m a jokester. I love being happy and I joke around all the time. But a lot of people don’t know that when I go to the swimming pool, I’m 110% committed. I work, I bust my a- every day to get where I’m at.
“People think that just because I’m a jokester that I don’t care, that I got here because of talent and I can just go to the bars and get hammered with my friends and I don’t care about anything.
“But that’s not me. I have a family that I care more than anything about. I train my butt off every day to provide a better life for my family.”
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
He added:
“A lot of people have a different perception of me, but that’s not me. I want people to see the real me. That’s what you’re going to get in this documentary: you’re going to see the real me.
“You’re going to see how hard it is training every day to make the Olympic team and to go home and you have two kids and you’re a husband and a dad and you have to juggle both of them. It’s not easy. You’re going to see how much I have grown up. I’ve matured.”
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Giulia Brickl
Just searched my DVR for In Too Deepand came up with a movie with LL Cool J and Stanley Tucci. ?
Kim Pfarrer DiJoseph
Sum 41 doing the soundtrack?
Punk!
Fucking loser! Phelps kicked your cock in the dirt. You had nice Gay shoes though . Underachieving Shemp!
You are a loser timmy. You I wish you knew someone like Lochte. Great man who messed up a few times in the past. Just like Phelps and majority of great athletes.
Sam Louis