Ryan Lochte

Ryan Steven Lochte ( LOK-tee; born August 3, 1984) is an American former competitive swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. He is the third-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured by total number of medals, behind only Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. Lochte's seven individual Olympic medals rank second in history in men's swimming (again to Michael Phelps), tied for second among all Olympic swimmers. He currently holds the world records in the 4×200-meter freestyle (long course).

Lochte's success has earned him SwimSwam's Swammy Award for U.S. Male Swimmer of the Year in 2013, the World Swimmer of the Year Award, and the American Swimmer of the Year Award twice. He has also been named the FINA Swimmer of the Year three times. He has won a total of 90 medals in major international competition (54 gold, 22 silver and 14 bronze) spanning the Olympics, the World Championships Pan American Games and Pan Pacific Championships, including six Olympic gold medals and 39 world championship titles.

Lochte specialized in the backstroke and individual medley but was also a freestyle and butterfly swimmer. He is noted for the speed and distance he attained while kicking underwater. Lochte is also known for the dominance he held in the short course format (25-yard and 25-meter-long pools). Lochte swam the 100-meter individual medley in a then-world record 50.71 seconds on December 15, 2012 at the FINA World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. At this same event, he was also credited with swimming the then-fastest 200-meter individual medley, finishing in 1 minute 49.63 seconds.