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American swimmer Ryan Lochte will be aiming to make his fifth consecutive Olympic appearance in Tokyo when he begins his journey at the forthcoming 2021 US Olympic Swimming Trials on the 13th of June. This is an incredible achievement to target in any sport, let alone swimming, which requires tremendous agility and power.
But when Ryan Lochte takes the field at the 2021 US Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, his competition won't be the swimmers half his age. Rather, it will be Ryan Lochte himself.
Lochte has 12 Olympic medals to his name (6 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze) and is the second-most decorated Olympian in the field of swimming after Michael Phelps. However, his fans will most likely remember him for "Lochtegate."
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he falsely accused Brazilian policemen of robbing him at a gas station after urinating outside the bathroom with his colleagues. His fifteen minutes of fame ended with him serving a 10-month suspension and doing 10 hours of community service.
Lochte wasn't invited to the US Olympic delegation to the White House either, and sponsors backed themselves out of their deals. He hit a new low in 2018 when the USADA sanctioned him with a 14-month ban from competing after they found him guilty of "prohibited intravenous infusion."
After rehabilitating and serving his ban, Lochte finally resurfaced at the 2019 US National Championships, where his 200m individual medley gold medal swim was enough to book a place at the US Olympic Swimming Trials.
Even if he had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Lochte would have become the oldest American swimmer to step foot in the pool. But the postponement has resulted in him and his opponents getting more time to fine-tune their strokes.
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Who are Ryan Lochte's rivals in the 2021 US Olympic Swimming Trials?
At the 2021 US Olympic Swimming Trials, Lochte will be challenged by 2017 World Championships gold medallist Chase Kalisz and youngsters Michael Andrew (22) and Carson Foster (19) among many others in the 200m individual medley race.
Lochte currently holds the world record (1:54.00) in his pet event which he set at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai. Although he is not expected to break his own record, he is the favorite to reserve a spot in Tokyo. Lochte shouldn't keep his hopes high in the butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle events as he can fall behind in the two-per-country rule.
Of all the possibilities, 36-year-old Ryan Lochte is likely to feature in his last-ever US Olympic Swimming Trials this month. He has his eyes set on the International Swimming League and the World Cup meets.
But if he wants to etch his name in the history books as a handful of athletes to have participated in five Olympic Games, Ryan Lochte needs to forget his past and power with his best foot and hand forward.
