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Since Childhood, 12x Olympic medalist and SPIRE Ambassador Ryan Lochte‘s lifelong goal had been to break a world record and win a gold medal at the Olympics. In 2008, the swimming superstar finally accomplished all of that in one race.
Watch Ryan Lochte earn his first individual Olympic gold medal in the 200 back, topping Aaron Peirsol and breaking the world record in the process.
We went to a very special practice in Geneva, Ohio: a SPIRE Academy Swim Camp featuring SPIRE Ambassador Ryan Lochte. See it the PRACTICE + PANCAKES with Lochte here.
“WATCH: Ryan Lochte describes the moment he learned to tie his shoes.”
It is so insane that Piersol took that record down to a 1:51.9 just a year later. That’s a record that will stay on the books for a while longer.
With a cheater suit
Was Lochte not also wearing a super suit when he broke his record?
Lochte was wearing a Speedo LZR. Which was not fully polyethylene. That’s what was really troubling about the super suit era. If you were signed to Arena or Jaked you got the best suit in the world. But if you were signed to Speedo you got the LZR. If Lochte was in an Arena X-Glide or a Jaked, I doubt Peirsol beats him that day. And, for that matter, if Phelps was in one of the superior suits, I don’t think there’s a chance Beidermann takes the 200 record. Those two full-poly suits were just way beyond anything that had ever existed, even other “super suits.”
No one was signed to Jaked or Arena (American) back then. Speedo had the big American studs, TYR was a b squad at the time, and Nike had the cool swimmers (Pierson Hanson and Lezak)
After 08 Nike cut everyone and everyone wore whatever they wanted.
I am pretty sure that if this was a thread about Biedermann’s WR people wouldn’t rush to his defense like you did
There will always be a range of responses from strongest critics to strongest defenders.
Smart people simply say ‘super suit era’ and leave it at that.
not a cheater suit… it was legal at the time.
Piersol underrated how dominant he was
Did Lochte just hire a new publicist or something? This is like the fourth story I’ve seen about him in as many days.
This is the start of his Paris 2024 comeback
What’s the record for most consecutive Olympic Trial appearances? If he goes in 2024 he’s got to be nearing a record
Not sure of the record, but Dara Torres has 6 – 84,88,92,00,08,12 – obviously not consecutive.
Amanda Weir competed in 6 straight from 2000 to 2021.
With Peter Andrew. He’s gonna train with MA to get some 2IM speed
Pretty sure this is a series of SPIRE Institute-paid articles, given the branding in each one of them.
Not gonna lie, it’s pretty effective. Take a name brand (Lochte) that they know will get traction and release a bunch of articles with their own branding all over them. From a business perspective, it’s one of the better advertising methods I’ve seen here.
Although he is the current WR holder, I think there’s an argument he should’ve focused on the 200 back over the 200IM during his comeback for Tokyo.
He could make the team with 1:54, which I think is doable if his underwaters are on point and his conditioning is there. And it’s a much easier race than the 2IM in my opinion.
I have wondered about that myself. It seemed to me that his breaststroke might have been in decline after his knee injury, which (I think) wouldn’t be as much of an issue in backstroke.
I think his endurance for doing a 200 of a consistent stroke regressed in the 5 years since Rio and honestly it might have started with injuries prior to Rio.
That final 50 in 200 backstroke would have looked sad at age 36. No way he builds enough early margin to overcome the late piano.
Vintage Jeah!
That was, indeed, a fine swim! If I remember correctly, Lochte had the flu earlier in the week — he faded to 3rd in the last 100 of the 400 IM — but he recovered nicely for this race 5 days later.
Also, Lochte’s ankle lace came untied when he jumped in for the start of the 200 Back, and he swam that whole race with a dangling string coming off his foot! The dude was unflappable!
What is ankle lace? was he wearing a brace in the water? Is that allowed?
He doesn’t actually have feet, they’re prosthetics tied to his ankles and he’s got a different set of them for each event. I’m pretty sure he had issues multiple times with the laces for his backstroke feet, including the instance WS mentioned.
I remember reading something a long time ago where Lochte said he forgot to tie his strings before the final of the 200 back in Beijing. He realized when he hopped in the water and it kind of took him out of the moment, but that also took his mind off the stress/nerves for the race and he was able to relax more.