Ryan Lochte explains how "good dude" Michael Phelps helped get him out of depression

Ryan Lochte shared how Michael Phelps helped him during his low times, despite being his toe-to-toe rival throughout their active years. Measured by the total number of medals, Lochte etched his name as the third-most decorated swimmer in history, just behind Phelps and Katie Ledecky.

Lochte won 90 medals in major competitions across the World Championships, Olympic Games, Pan Pacific Championships, and Pan American Games. He holds the 200m individual medley long course world record, set at the 2011 World Championships. However, his short course record in the 200m individual medley was recently broken by French swimmer, Leon Marchand, at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Besides making waves individually, Lochte was also known as the head-on rival of the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps. He achieved back-to-back second places behind Phelps until surpassing his 200m individual medley time at the 2010 National Championships. In 2011, he finished ahead of the Baltimore-born in the 200m freestyle and individual medley before the latter announced his first retirement after the 2012 Games.

Despite their rivalry, Lochte shared that he and Phelps shared a good bond, playing cards at the Olympics. In the 'Shut Up! Tell Me More' podcast, the 12-time Olympic medalist talked about how Phelps talked him out of depression, something that the latter also struggled with.

"He's helped me throughout all my life. I had a lot of downfalls and I was like depressed. He's like helped me get out of it because he went through the exact same thing. So he's a really good dude and we talk like once or twice a month," he noted.

In 2016, Lochte was suspended from USA Swimming and the US Olympic Committee for fabricating a story that took place at the Rio Olympics. He and three of his fellow teammates vandalized the gestation restroom, prompting the security guards to take out their guns and hold them accountable.

However, Ryan Lochte and his teammates twisted the story and said that armed men dressed as police held them at gunpoint and robbed them.

Ryan Lochte expressed his desire to grow the sport by training kids

Ryan Lochte at the 2014 Arena Grand Prix at Mesa - (Source: Getty)

After Ryan Lochte failed to advance to the Tokyo Games, many questioned his probable retirement. However, in an Instagram post in June 2021, the 40-year-old confirmed that he would continue to be associated with swimming competitively and teach young kids to grow the sport.

"There’s so much more I want to do in the sport of swimming, whether it’s in the pool or outside of the pool trying to grow the sport, because the love and passion that I have — I want to grow the sport."

He added:

"So, I’m still going to be doing that. I’m still going to be in the sport. And I’m still going to be trying to teach kids how to swim because I’m a big kid myself and I love kids."

Ryan Lochte was suspended for 14 months in 2018 after the USADA noted that he received a 'prohibited intravenous injection'.