6-time Olympic champion swimmer Ryan Lochte dives into teaching at Missouri State – WSVN 7News | Miami Information, Weather, Sports activities

(AP) — Six-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte has joined the swimming workers at Missouri State, the place he’ll work with the boys’s and ladies’s applications as an assistant to teach Dave Collins starting later this summer time.

The 41-year-old Lochte gained 12 total medals throughout 4 Summer Games, making him one of the crucial embellished Olympic swimmers in historical past. He swam competitively at Florida and gained 18 long-course world championships and 21 short-course world titles.

“Swimming gave me structure, purpose and a platform to grow not just as an athlete but as a person,” Lochte mentioned in a press release. “To now step into a coaching role and pour that experience back into student-athletes is something I take seriously.”

Lochte’s sensible swimming profession was not with out controversy.

In 2016, he claimed to be amongst 4 American swimmers who have been robbed by armed males in Rio de Janeiro whereas competing on the Summer Olympics. Later, it emerged that the armed males have been really guards at a fuel station the place Lochte allegedly vandalized a poster, leading to an apology from him and a 10-month suspension from USA Swimming and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Two years later, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended Lochte for 14 months for receiving a “prohibited intravenous infusion” of what he claimed to be nutritional vitamins. Lochte had posted an image of the injection on social media earlier than deleting it.

“It’s about more than times and results,” Lochte mentioned of his foray into teaching. “It’s about helping young men and women build discipline, resilience and confidence that will carry them far beyond the pool. I’ve lived the highs and the challenges of this sport, and I want to use that perspective to guide them, support them and help them reach their full potential in and out of the water.”

Missouri state has lengthy been one of many nation’s greatest mid-major swimming applications. Its males have gained 21 convention championships and its ladies have gained 18 of them, and Collins has been voted the convention’s high coach on 13 events.

“We are very excited to welcome Ryan to the coaching staff,” he mentioned. “Beyond his lengthy list of accomplishments as an athlete, Ryan has a work ethic that will translate very well on deck as a coach. When you have the opportunity to bring in one of the best ever in our sport, you do everything you can to make it happen.”

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