"It was like my son being I don't love you dad" - Ryan Lochte opens up about his biggest ordeal after losing sponsors following 2016 Olympics

Ryan Lochte talked about the lowest time of his life after the Rio Olympic incident when he started getting death threats, lost sponsors, and faced fan backlash on social media. He amassed seven Olympic golds and 39 World Championship titles across his career.

Lochte, one of the most decorated swimmers in history, competed at his first Games edition in 2004 Athens, clinching the 4x200m individual medley gold. He continued his momentum to the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning two gold and two bronze medals. After collecting five medals at the 2012 Games, he qualified for Rio in the 200m individual medley and 4x200m freestyle relay.

Though Lochte clinched the gold as part of the relay team, he failed to make a podium finish in the individual event. On August 14, 2016, he and his teammate Jimmy Feigen claimed that four of them were held at gunpoint and robbed by armed men dressed as police at a gas station. However, further investigation and camera footage confirmed that, unlike their story, the athletes vandalized the gas station restroom and asked for damage charges from the security guards (with arms).

USA Swimming and the US Olympic Committee banned the athletes for 10 months and stopped providing financial assistance. Lochte even lost some of his sponsors and received immense backlash from fans. In the Shut Up! Tell Me More podcast, he recalled the hardest time when he received death threats over social media.

"The hardest thing, I was on like what was called Twitter, not X, I was getting death threats all the time and I was like, for what I didn't do anything I pissed outside of a gas station."

Lochte continued:

"The hardest thing was reading these messages of fans being like 'Ryan, you used to be my role model, now you're not. That's to me was like the hardest thing in lines with like my son being like I don't love you dad.."

The court in Brazil dismissed the charges against Lochte in 2017, claiming that his actions were not intense enough for filing a false crime report.

Ryan Lochte wished for a second chance to overturn his mistake and become a role model again

Ryan Lochte speaking at the Arena Grand Prix at Mesa - (Source: Getty)

Ryan Lochte sat for an exclusive one-on-one conversation with Matt Lauer, detailing the gas station story he was held accountable for fabricating. The 40-year-old admitted to having 'over-exaggerated' the story and apologized to Rio and Brazil for his behavior.

The swimming great also wished for a second chance to overturn the impression he had on people and become a role model again.

"If they give me that chance I definitely know I can turn this around and become that role model for little kids," Lochte said. "I don’t want little kids to look at me for what I just did, for that one night. I don’t want that." (via NBC News)

Despite losing his Tokyo Olympic bid in 2021, Ryan Lochte announced that he would continue to be associated with the sport and help it grow by teaching kids.