Ryan Lochte Gets Baptized

🚨 OLYMPIAN RYAN LOCHTE: "We started watching these people getting baptized, and something came into me, something so pure."

"I'm going to start crying. It felt so real watching these people get baptized."

"And I asked [my girlfriend], 'What is this?'"

She said, "They're… pic.twitter.com/4UzeWCvX00

— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) May 16, 2026

Jimmy Fallon: Ryan Lochte DWTS

JIMMY FALLON: Last night was the big season premiere of Dancing with the Stars. And at one point, two protesters rushed the stage as Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte got his scores. Security stopped them within about ten seconds; or as Lochte put it, 'They kidnapped me, put a gun to my head, and dropped me off at the Grand Canyon.'

Ryan Lochte: DWTS - When Protesters Attack

A bizarre media moment occurred on Dancing with the Stars last night.

From TMZ:

Ryan Lochte was on the verge of being attacked Monday night during the live season premiere of "Dancing with the Stars" ... and the man who rushed the staged was taken down by security and detained.

Lochte had just finished a foxtrot with Cheryl Burke and they were standing next to Tom Bergeron to get the judges' feedback, when a group in the audience ripped their shirts open to reveal the round symbol for "No Lochte" on their chests. The group was booing the swimmer when one rushed the stage.

Disrupting a live TV show and getting a little notoriety was probably the point of the "protest."

So many crazy things are happening.

TMZ reports that two men were arrested for trespassing.

Jimmy Fallon: Trump Immigration Joke

JIMMY FALLON: After more than a year of promising mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, last night Donald Trump actually referred to them as 'great people.' Even Ryan Lochte was like, 'Get your story straight, man.'

Jimmy Fallon: Ryan Lochte and Trump Joke

JIMMY FALLON: It seems like people are still talking about this Ryan Lochte story. Apparently, Lochte lost all four of his endorsement deals yesterday following his Rio robbery scandal. In fact, he's so desperate for money he's actually considering robbing a gas station.

Ryan Lochte lost all his business deals in just one day. Even Trump was like, 'It took me months to do that. This guy is fast. This guy is fast.'

Jimmy Fallon: Ryan Lochte Jokes - Speedo

JIMMY FALLON: Unfortunately, one of the bigger stories out of the Olympics is this scandal with swimmer Ryan Lochte. Lochte claimed he got robbed in Rio just to cover up the fact he actually vandalized a gas station bathroom. Then, the other swimmers said, 'What were you doing in a bathroom? Just hold it and do it in the pool like we do. We're swimmers.'

And Lochte's troubles didn't end there. Today, Speedo announced that they are ending his endorsement deal over the fact that he made up the whole robbery story, which makes sense because Speedo is known for leaving nothing to the imagination. We want to know everything. We want to know everything. That's right, I guess Speedo will just now have to rely on their other spokesman - the fattest guy at the beach.

Ryan Lochte and Hillary Clinton

These two liars will have far different outcomes for the lies they've told #RyanLochte #HillaryClinton #LochteGate pic.twitter.com/I8AS9kyn5D

— ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) August 18, 2016

Why is so much attention being devoted to LochteGate?

The guy lied. That's not good.

However, some lies are bigger than others. Some have serious consequences. Some people lie about life and death matters.

I wish the media would focus on Hillary's lies because those lies truly matter.

Ryan Lochte lied about being robbed. It was a really stupid thing to do, but that won't have any effect on my life at all.

Ryan Lochte's Grandma

Ryan Lochte's grandma carries torch for nursing home #Olympics. https://t.co/juITOLbV4c pic.twitter.com/eXIZXGZZPJ

— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) August 9, 2016

Phelps - Gold, Lochte - Silver: 200m IM

Most-decorated Olympian @michaelphelps WINS 200 IM and is first male to earn gold in same indiv. event three times!Silver for @ryanlochte!

— US Olympic Team (@USOlympic) August 2, 2012

.@michaelphelps wins GOLD in the 200m IM! @ryanlochte takes silver. #Phelps is first male swimmer to win the same race at 3 #Olympics!

— NBCOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 2, 2012

Another great day in London for Team USA!

Michael Phelps: 19 Olympic Medals

Three of his teammates helped Michael Phelps swim into history today.

The U.S. 4x200m freestyle relay team took gold, earning Phelps his 19th Olympic medal, the most of any athlete ever.

From the Associated Press:

With a lot of help from his friends, Phelps took down the last major record that wasn't his alone, swimming the anchor leg for the United States in a gold medal-winning performance of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay Tuesday night.

About an hour earlier, Phelps took one of the most frustrating defeats of his brilliant career, making a shocking blunder at the finish and settling for silver in his signature event, the 200 butterfly.

That tied the record for career medals held by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, but it was hardly a triumphant moment. Phelps slung away his cap in disgust and struggled to force a smile at the medal ceremony.

But any disappointment from that race was gone by the time he dived in the water on the relay, having been staked to a huge lead by teammates Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens.

Before the race, they all huddled together, fully aware of their role in history.

"I thanked those guys for helping me get to this moment," Phelps said. "I told those guys I wanted a big lead. I was like, 'You better give me a big lead going into the last lap,' and they gave it to me. I just wanted to hold on. I thanked them for being able to allow me to have this moment."

I like that Phelps' record-breaking medal was gold. I like that it came with a relay, a team effort.

Congratulations to Michael Phelps.

Congratulations to Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens.

Fantastic!

Ryan Lochte

Dear NBC,

SHOW EVENTS LIVE.
________________

Breaking News:

NBC secures exclusive rights to air 2014 Winter Olympics during 2016 Summer Olympics.

— Adam Proteau (@Proteautype) July 28, 2012

USA Swimmers Garner More Gold

Michael Phelps won his 6th gold medal of the Olympic Games in Beijing. This one was in the 200m individual medley.

As with his previous 5 golds, Phelps won in world record time, 54.23.

What a remarkable accomplishment!

Phelps' teammate Ryan Lochte took the bronze.

Earlier, Lochte won gold in the 200m backstroke, setting a world record. It was his first career individual gold medal, edging out teammate Aaron Peirsol.

Lochte was known as "Mr. Runner-up" for his frequent second-place finishes to Phelps and Peirsol. Then he stunned Peirsol at last year's world championships in 1:54.32, before Peirsol matched the time in beating Lochte at the U.S. Olympic trials last month.

Lochte got Peirsol back despite a problem with his LZR Racer.

"My suit came undone after the first 50," Lochte said. "I was just trying to control my legs."

What's this? The LZR Racer malfunctioned? The world record-maker suit posed a problem for Lochte?

Interesting.

Lochte still managed to win in spite of the suit. That's worth noting.

The American women had some bright moments at the Water Cube, too.

Rebecca Soni gave the U.S. women's swim team a much-needed boost, setting a world record in the 200 breaststroke with an upset of Australia's Leisel Jones.

...American Natalie Coughlin claimed the bronze for her fifth medal of these games, matching her total from Athens with the medley relay still to go.

"I'm very proud of how I've handled the heavier workload," she said.

Soni's upset win and world record is quite an achievement.

Five medals for Coughlin -- That's terrific!

Unfortunately, Wisconsin's own Garrett Weber-Gale didn't advance to the final in the 50m freestyle.

Garrett Weber-Gale’s Olympic experience started off with an unbelievable high, when he helped the U.S. 400-meter freestyle relay team defeat the favored French squad for a gold medal.

But the 23-year-old from Fox Point and the University of Texas did not qualify in a second consecutive individual event final this morning, as he failed to get out of his semifinal heat in the 50-meter freestyle.

Weber-Gale, who set an American record in the event in the Olympic trials, finished sixth in his heat in 22.08 seconds. Earlier this week, he did not qualify for the 100 freestyle final.

Weber-Gale's Olympics aren't over yet. He still has the 4x100m medley relay coming up.

Getting back to Phelps, he has been absolutely amazing. I'm in awe of his ability, his stamina, and his mental toughness.

[H]e showed little signs of tiring from the grueling schedule. He's already raced 15 times and has two more left — both going for gold.

"I actually don't feel too bad now," Phelps said.

That can't be encouraging for those swimmers who've come up with all sorts of amusing theories for Phelps' dominance. He's from outer space. He's come back from the future in a time machine. He's some sort of human rocket.

The official Xinhua News Agency dubbed Phelps "the American superfish."

Phelps has been so amazing that skeptics think he must be cheating.

For those who believe Phelps might be using more illicit methods to produce these times, he shot down any speculation about doping.

"Anybody can say whatever they want, but I know I'm clean," said Phelps, who took part in a special U.S. anti-doping program that subjected him to additional, more sophisticated testing. "People can question it all they want, but the facts are the facts. I have the results to prove it."

What more can Phelps do?

There will always be doubters.

Greatness can be hard to comprehend.

MICHAEL PHELPS DOES IT!

With a world record in the 200m Butterfly, Michael Phelps is the athlete with the most gold medals in Olympic history.

He stands alone, towering above all others.

Phelps touched in 1:52.03 his fourth gold medal and fourth world record in Beijing. The mark had been 1:52.09, set by Phelps at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

Along with the four golds he has now won in Beijing, Phelps won six at the 2004 Athens Games. Phelps also won two bronze medals in 2004.

Coming into Wednesday's action at the Water Cube, Phelps stood at nine career Olympic golds, tied with four others for most career golds, among them Mark Spitz and track star Carl Lewis.

Spitz still holds the mark for most golds won by one athlete in a single Olympics, seven in Munich in 1972.

That's the next goal in Phelps' sights.

Four gold medals. Four world records.
_____________________

Phelps work was not done for the day.

From the New York Times:

Less than an hour [after winning gold in the 200m butterfly], Phelps led off the United States’ 4x-200 freestyle relay in 1:43.31, almost three seconds faster than his nearest competitor, to set the tone for the Americans’ rousing victory. The squad of Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay clocked a 6:58.56 — the first sub-seven minute performance — to finish 5.14 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Russia, which was only 0.46 seconds off the listed world record.

In a sport where races often are decided by hundredths of a second, Phelps, 23, has won three of his five golds here by a margin of 1.89 seconds or more.

“There’s nobody in any sport that can win like he wins,” Reese said. “He’s not just winning, he’s crunching world records and crunching the fields. It’s amazing.”

Amazing.

Speedo LZR Racer Suit: Is Michael Phelps Cheating?

I don't know how athletes convince themselves that it's OK to cheat by using banned performance-enhancing drugs.

What good are medals and honors and world records if they're tainted?

Watching the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, it was exciting to see records set. It didn't cross my mind that the new records were undeserved.

I know about the Speedo LZR Racer Suit controversy, but I really don't see why some people are complaining about that.

Phelps's quest to top Mark Spitz's seven gold medals is only the second biggest swim story in the run-up to the Olympics. Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuit is causing the biggest splash in and out of the pool. The rubbery full-body corset would look more at home in a Batman movie than on the pool deck. But since it was introduced in February, swimmers wearing it have set a stunning 38 world records. Rivals' suits have set just three world records during that time, which has them crying foul (while scrambling to come up with their own sci-fi suits). The coach of the Italian team calls the LZR Racer "technological doping." The second largest U.S. swimwear maker, TYR, filed a federal lawsuit in California, alleging anticompetitive practices, against Speedo's parent company, the coach of the U.S. swim team and even a TYR endorser, Olympic medalist Erik Vendt, who switched to the Speedo. A Japanese swimmer under contract to Mizuno just set a world record in a LZR (pronounced laser), which he'll wear in Beijing. Swimming's governing body, FINA, approved the LZR for the Olympics, but controversy still swirls, which is fine by Speedo. "It's very nice to have your competitors recognize they're at a disadvantage," says Speedo's marketing chief Stu Isaac. "They're doing our marketing for us."

..."The swimmer makes the suit, not the other way around," says [Michael Phelps' coach Bob] Bowman.

"Swimming's governing body, FINA, approved the LZR for the Olympics."

Swimmers wearing the suit shouldn't be accused of "technological doping."

They're following the rules of the sport. End of story.

There's nothing wrong with swimming in a suit approved for Olympic competition.

Using banned substances to enhance one's performance is an entirely different matter.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Phelps set a world record in his first event of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, touching just ahead of Ryan Lochte to win the 400-meter individual medley in 4 minutes, 5.25 seconds Sunday night.

Katie Hoff matched her former North Baltimore teammate in the 400 IM, taking down the women's mark in 4:31.12.

Overshadowing the new records were comments made by swimming veteran Gary Hall Jr. on Sunday, expressing concern over his belief that swimmers are using performance-enhancing drugs to give them a boost in the pool.

''To think that it doesn't exist is foolish,'' Hall said. ''All doping scandals are not a direct result of positive tests. They're usually somebody getting caught by some other means. I don't think that we can rely on a doping agency to really catch the people that are so far ahead of where the testing is.''

Hall said he was speaking out because he's worried about the future of a sport he began in as a youngster. He said the public suspicion directed toward many of today's athletic accomplishments ''can be very depressing and it has been very frustrating for a lot of clean athletes.''

He mentioned the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where the East German women piled up gold medals. They were later found to have cheated through steroid use, but at the time they credited their world records and success to the type of swimsuit they wore.

''Clearly we know now it wasn't the suit that was causing all these world records to be broken. It was copious amounts of steroids,'' Hall said. ''Can the suit technology distract from another issue? I think it's pretty convenient for those that are indulging the other issue.''

Hall acknowledged he has no positive drug tests to back up his comments.

''Unfortunately, we rely on an inadequate doping system and doping agencies for the proof,'' he said. ''We live in a society where innocent until proven guilty, the key word being proven, and we don't have any way of proving these people are cheating. We never did.''

I think it's wrong for Hall to toss around accusations without any proof.

In the case of the East German swimmers, it was clear that something was terribly amiss. It wasn't just their success in the pool that tipped people off.

For example:

When a rival coach noted with some sarcasm that the voices of many of the East German women were unusually deep -- a telltale sign of the effects of steroid use in females -- an East German coach replied, "We came here to swim, not sing."

Being on a regimen of anabolic steroids and other banned substances is completely different from competing in an APPROVED suit.

Hall's claims of doping are extremely serious. In effect, he's calling out Michael Phelps and other superior American swimmers as cheaters.

He's frustrated with the "innocent until proven guilty" concept.

I think he needs to be patient. If the American swimmers have an edge based on doping, then that will come out eventually as it did with the East Germans. They will be shamed like Marion Jones.

The accomplishments of Michael Phelps and others will be discredited and they will take their place in Olympic history among the disgraced.

The champions will be identified as cheaters. They will be losers. But at this point, Hall is the loser.