June 19, (THEWILL)- The race to the Olympics in Tokyo Japan is over for one renowned Olympian, Ryan Lochte. The American swimming sensation, who throughout the 21st century has been equal parts controversial and successful, came up short in his bid for a fifth Olympics on Friday night in the United States.
The 36-year-old finished seventh place in the 200-meter Individual Medley at U.S. swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska in an event that reserved qualification for the fastest two. On Friday, Michael Andrew and Chase Kalisz touched the platform fastest and therefore qualified.
It was to be Lochte’s best and final shot of being included in Team America at the Olympics as he could not reach the levels expected of him in the preliminary round of the other events for which he competed throughout the swimming trials.
The megastar’s decision to focus on the 200 IM, which coincidentally was the race that first made him an Olympian 17 years ago, a race that he still owns the world record in, was believed to be a brilliant concession for his chances of making it.
Ahead of the finals, Lochte posted the second-fastest time at the 200 IM prelims on Thursday before announcing himself as a contender. However, an indication of the disappointment to come flashed when he was sixth in the semis but good enough to reach Friday’s final.
Although he vowed to improve 24 hours later in the final, he realised the young limbs in neighbouring lanes had too much speed. In a game of speed by the seconds, Lochte was able to reach the end in 1:59.67 seconds, which was disappointingly a whole 4 seconds behind Andrew and 2.7 behind Kalisz.
The outcome was a letdown and in the post-race interview, Lochte showed the disappointment in his words: “I really wanted to be on that Olympic team,” and said he felt like he “let everyone down.”
As the second-most decorated career in swimming history, only behind Michael Phelps, the 36-year-old, who still boasts an impressive 12 Olympic medals and 18 world championships, was not convinced about the possibility of this being the end of his brilliant career.
His reply was: “This ain’t the end of the road. There’s a lot more I wanted to accomplish in the sport of swimming, whether it’s in the pool or outside the pool, making the sport of swimming bigger. That’s my biggest goal.
“I don’t know if this will be my last race. I don’t think so. Actually, I can say it won’t be. I’ll quit swimming when I stop having fun. I love this sport.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
