Article originally published January 26, 2017.
After seeing his image take a major hit following the gas station debacle in Rio, 32-year-old Ryan Lochte has slowly been making a comeback in the way of positive public persona and resulting sponsorships. Whereas immediately following the post-Olympics drunken incident, long-time sponsor Speedo, among other organizations, chose to end its relationship with the 12-time Olympic medalist, since last summer Lochte has been able to slowly re-enter the limelight.
Lochte performed quite well on Dancing With The Stars and has since signed deals with Pine Bros and most recently PowerBar. He and his girlfriend Kayla Rae Reid became engaged and they announced her pregnancy while Lochte simultaneously announced he’s back in the water training.
However, perhaps the biggest indication that Lochte is returning to form both in and out of the pool is the fact that mega swim company TYR has signed on the star as its latest athlete. Although he won’t be donning the gear in Budapest, as he is still serving his USA Swimming-imposed suspension through the World Championships, he has his eyes on Tokyo 2020, when he’ll be 36 years of age.
See the complete TYR Sport release below:
TYR Sport is proud to announce the signing of 12X Olympic Medalist Ryan Lochte to its roster of sponsored athletes.
As a truly iconic figure in the world of sports, Ryan has earned his status as one of history’s most recognizable names in swimming. With showstopping appearances in the last four Olympic Games, he remains the World Record holder in the 200 individual medley. In addition, his seven individual Olympic medals are second all-time in the sport of men’s swimming. Ryan has been named both American and World Swimmer of the Year twice in his career (2010 & 2011) and has a total of 70 medals in major international competitions including 45 first place finishes.
Ryan’s debut will be featured in TYR’s marketing campaign “Just Let Me Work,” and will provide fans with a glimpse into what motivates the decorated athlete moving forward.
In addition to his success in the pool, Ryan is incredibly focused on charity. H e is the spokesperson for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne), an illness that has personally impacted his family, as well as the Mac Crutchfield Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising money for drowning awareness.
“I am thrilled that I will be continuing my swimming career with TYR Sport,” began Ryan. “I still have so much more I want to accomplish and TYR offers the perfect platform to achieve those goals. I’ve always been very impressed with the quality of their gear and feel fortunate to be part of their family. I look forward to the next chapter.”
“TYR is incredibly excited to welcome Ryan Lochte to our family,” said Matt DiLorenzo, Chief Executive Officer of TYR Sport. “Through his work in the pool he has elevated the sport of swimming on a global scale. However, it is his humble and caring approach toward his fans that has proven truly commendable. As a company we stand behind Ryan, and look forward to seeing what he can achieve.”
Ryan joins an accomplished team of TYR sponsored swimmers including Olympic Gold Medalists Dana Vollmer, Matt Grevers, Cody Miller and Kelsi Worrell, as well as Olympians Jacob Pebley and Molly Hannis.
About TYR
Named for TYR, the Norse god of warriors, our company is committed to cultivating a culture of greatness, both in and out of the water. Through vision and American ingenuity, we have become a brand synonymous with the athlete.
From the planning stages to the production floor, everything we do revolves around synthesizing creativity, experience and competition. For us, engineering the most advanced performance products is more than just a goal, it’s a requirement.
Glad to see good things happening for Ryan. He’s always been the Olympic swimmer most generous with his time for kids. The guy has never walked past a kid who wanted some time & his attention, and never makes anyone feel hurried when he is giving of his time.
I hope TYR didn’t make him wrestle a live bear like Matt Grevers does as one of the terms. Remember, its spumoni, Ryan. SPUMONI.
Lochte is the World’s greatest male swimmer ever, not named Michael Phelps.
Johnny Weissmuller
Murray Rose
Don Schollander
Mark Spitz
Vladimir Salnokov
Matt Biondi
Alex Popov
Tamas Darnyi
Tom Dolan
Ian Thorpe
Aaron Piersol
Might disagree with you.
And they’d be wrong. Count the medals. Count the events of dominance.
Current Era:
1. Phelps
2. Lochte
3. Cseh
Lochte for Tarzan . .
A remake would have him rescuing LBGTQI from rapids to the safety of the SAS & Special Forces compounds guarding the gold & diamonds .
Years Of Plain Suck, Bigly is correct. Lochte has pretty much dominated the sport without Phelps. He has 90 international medals, consisting of 54 gold medals, 22 silver medals, and 14 bronze medals. He has MORE international medals than Phelps has (I know Phelps doesn’t do short course worlds, and he was retired in 2013 and banned from 2015 worlds, but that is still an achievement).
I’m glad that TYR has allowed Ryan Lochte to put the past behind him and focus on what’s important in his life now. Ryan is an excellent swimmer and will represent TYR well. Good luck Ryan with your new engagement and eventually, your new addition to your family. Just stay focused on what’s important in your life.
Congrats Ryan!
Congrats to Ryan! He’s just about as “underrated” as a 12 time Olympic medalist can get because Phelps, and I think people sometimes forget how good he really is. 1:44.44 in 200 free, 1:52.96 in 200 back, 1:54.00 in 200 IM, and 4:05.18 in 400 IM, ALL TEXTILE.
Where I see the potential for Tokyo is 100 fly (textile best is 51.48 from 2013 worlds), 4×100 free relay, and 200 IM.
100 fly he’s never really focused on aside from 2013-14 a little bit, but in those couple years it went from his worst 100 to arguably his best. With more butterfly focus and speed work that could get down to a 51 low. 100 free is sorta… Read more »
Great points. It is worth noting that Jan Switkowski is Polish, and don’t count Kalisz out either 🙂
You’re right. Kalisz slipped my mind because of the 200 breast being there as well, but he’s definitely a factor. I got caught up in typing out names and made all the mistakes :'(
Lochte in 2020? He already looked old last summer. I wish him to be back but it’s tough to imagine him swim crazy times. Hopefully the break will be a good thing to refresh mentally and physically.
The 4X100 free relay? No way. Or you want to see USA lose.
100 fly? USA needs new faces.
200 IM? He will be very old to finish well that event but why not a last individual olympic final?
Very open event in USA right now.
Nolan? We are waiting for about 5 or 6 years a good performance in the big pool and we have seen nothing so far. Where there’s life, there’s hope. Murphy? It would… Read more »
He didn’t look old the summer before that, though, with his 1:45 high 200 free and his 1:55.8 200 IM in a pretty heavy schedule, with the IM late in the meet. Did he really “age” two seconds in the 200 IM in one year. No, that’s idiotic to think that. He made a mistake of training up for the 400 IM at Olympic Trials, then pulled his hamstring there, so power/sprint work between OT’s and Rio was a problem. Tough to have his explosive kick and underwaters with that injury. Had he repeated his Kazan performance, he would have won silver by a lot in Rio. One thing I give him a lot of credit about, he never whines… Read more »
+Bobo Gigi Groin injury… cough cough… eh who cares, 1:56.2 twice in 2016 with that and Lochte is suddenly old.
All textile? Pretty sure some if not all of those times were full body lzr
Wtf? The first three times are from the Shangai World Champs, and the 400 IM time is from London. Check your opinions before stating them as facts, “CMON”.
I see the 200 IM and the 100 free (for the relay) as his best chances of Tokyo potential. He swam that 200 IM FINAL at the Olympics all wrong. He went too fast, trying to keep up with Phelps (Pereira was doing great until he tried to keep up with Phelps as well). Don’t forget that he went 1:56 THREE TIMES in 2016 and 2 of those swims were with a groin injury. He can still go 1:56 for SURE. His time in the 200 IM 2016 US OT Final, or the Olympic 200 IM Semifinal would have gotten silver, and his semifinal at the trials would have gotten bronze. He can still preform 1:56 at least. He just… Read more »
Ryan was born in Rochester New York so my family has followed him for years. We have had him for a clinic and it was one of the best, most informative clinics that we had. He is famous for caring about his fans and making sure he talks to anybody and will sign autographs all the time. When he came to KC he had no demands, no complaints. The clinic we hosted was sponsored by Speedo with all proceeds going to Infant Aquatics and our outreach drowning prevention. He mentioned that the great Pablo Morales inspired him. During his break he chose to instead watch our Infant Aquatics demonstration smiling and pointing to the babies saying” I cant even float!… Read more »
Ryan may have peaked as an elite swimmer. He hasn’t improved any of his times in years. He didn’t put in the work like he had before and that’s why he only qualified for the Olympics in one individual event, the 200 IM. Sadly, he took the first 100 out too hard trying to race Phelps and faded in the freestyle, off the podium.
Just Let Me Work is his slogan now. OK. Ryan get back to pushing tires around and swimming till you turn blue.
Yeah I am a big lochte fan but I don’t know what he has left. He hasn’t gone sub 1:56 since 2015, hasn’t gone sub 1:55 since 2013.
100free relay maybe 100fly.
200im is over, he can’t swim freestyle anymore on IM, them Florida 2004-2008 days are long gone. Licon, prenot, chase will all beat him at trials 2020.
4×200 relay for 5th Olympics would be nice, but again he barely finished in Rio, in 4 years if he went 1.48.0 most people would think that’s good for a man on the verge of been 36, even Michael Andrew might pass him on last 50.
I like lochte hope he finds the right coach and chooses wisely not Racing everything still.
Licon and Prenot probably won’t swim the 200 IM because it always falls on the same day as the 200 breast.
good thing that 156.5 still got the silver medal at the last olympics, so who cares
He also doesn’t race when someone is kicking his butt. His finishes in several races on the big stage in recent years have been pathetic.
Lochte wearing TYR?? I’ll see it when I believe it
Thumbs up for the screen name