What happened at Ryan Lochte's Olympics debut in 2004?

Ryan Lochte's name rings around the globe when it comes to the sport of swimming. The 38-year-old American swimmer has etched his name in history, having achieved great heights in the sport. Let's dive into the event where it all began: The 2004 Olympics in Athens.

20-year-old Ryan won a surprise entry into the USA's Men's swimming team by qualifying in the trials for the 200m individual medley (IM) after beating Eric Shanteau and finishing almost three seconds behind Phelps.

Lochte at the finals of the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials - Swimming - Day 6 (Image via Getty)

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Ryan Lochte's performance at the 2004 Olympic

The young American swimmer qualified for the semis, finishing the heats in the 10th position, posting a time of 2:01.41 on the board: eight places behind his American compatriot, Michael Phelps.

After being drafted into the same group as Phelps for the semis, Lochte surprised everyone by qualifying for the finals in the second position, right behind Phelps, beating the likes of Vytautas Janušaitis of Lithuania and Jiro Miki of Japan, who had previously finished ahead of Lochte in the heats. While Phelps was the favorite to win gold, the stage was set for an exciting fight between the elite swimmers for a podium finish.

In a thrilling final, Phelps won gold and set an Olympic record of 1:57.14. The young American, Lochte, grabbed silver by beating George Bovell of Trinidad and Tobago by one-fiftieth of a second.

Phelps (L) and Lochte (R) at the medal ceremony for 200 IM, Athens 2004 (Image via Getty)

At the 2004 summer Olympics, Ryan Lochte managed to get his hands on gold. This came in the men's 4x200 freestyle relay, where the Americans grabbed a stunning upset victory over former champions Australia, led by legendary swimmer Ian Thorpe.

The one and only Phelps gave his team a kickstart with a lead of 1.01 seconds over the Australians. Lochte was the second swimmer for USA, and went against Michael Klim of Australia. Lochte had a shaky start which allowed Klim to catch up to touching distance in the first 100 meters. However, thanks to a couple of amazing flip turns and a flurry of kicks in the final 50, Lochte gave his team an advantage of 1.11 seconds and handed it off to Peter Vanderkaay, who held on to a comfortable lead over his Australian counterpart, Nicholas Sprenger.

Ian Thorpe, finishing for Australia, posted the fastest time of the event at 1:44.18. He almost spoiled the American party and forced Klete Keller into becoming the fastest American at the event, who finished at 1:45.53. The Americans pulled an upset victory over the defending champions by a margin of 0.13 seconds.

The USA men's 4x200 relay team celebrates their victory (Image via Getty)

The 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens marked the beginning of Lochte's journey. The young American quickly rose through the ranks and stands today as the second-most decorated Olympic swimmer of all time (behind Phelps), ranked second in both: total medal tally and total men's individual medal tally.

Throughout his career, Ryan constantly gave Phelps a run for his money, and to this day, he holds the world record for the 200 (long and short course) and 400 (short course) IMs!