Or, say, 28 -- like another Olympic celebrity Ryan Lochte. To hear him tell it, Lochte's immersion in the post-Olympic high life nearly sank his career. After returning from London with five medals, including two golds, he hit the talk show, photo shoot and red-carpet circuits; canoodled with childhood crush Carmen Electra; made cameos on 30 Rock and Beverly Hills 90210; and starred in his own reality TV show, What Would Ryan Lochte Do?, which recently aired on E! to mixed reviews.
"You name it, I did it," said Lochte as he sat on a bench outside the swim center's office after winning the 400 IM and the 200 back on Saturday. "After the Olympics, I wasn't swimming, I was doing all this other stuff that most people only dream about doing. I was partying, hitting red carpets, and being a celeb. I was meeting all these people and I was like, 'Man, this is awesome!' Why would I want to go back and train for three four hours every day when I'm living the life? You get sucked into that lifestyle. It takes over, just like that."
Lochte, who had never taken a significant break from swimming, says the pool was barely a thought for several months. "There were a few times this year when I said, I don't want to swim anymore. I'm done," he says. When he did finally show up to practice at the University of Florida, his coach, Gregg Troy, spelled out his diminishing prospects. "He said, 'You're not going to be remembered in the next couple years if you keep this up, you're not going to make the Olympic team,'" says Lochte. "Once he started talking about my dreams, I was like, crap, I don't want to be one of those guys, ten years down the road who is saying, what if I had just stuck with it?"
Even after that gut check, Lochte's training was interrupted by other commitments, including his eight-week reality TV shoot and the ensuing promotional tour, which included trips to New York, LA, and Miami. The fact that the show has not been met with universal acclaim -- even Troy, who is not a fan of reality TV in general, admits he only watched ten minutes of the first episode -- doesn't faze Lochte. "I hear people loving it and I hear haters -- oh my god, what a waste of time!" says Lochte. "But you know what, I'm living my life the way I want to live it. I'm okay. I was having fun doing that show. But I know I'm an athlete, not an actor."
With that adventure behind him, Lochte cancelled all his commitments and "turned down a lot of money," he says, in the last five weeks to focus on training. "I've probably put in the best four or five weeks of my life," he says. It paid off in Santa Clara: In addition to wins in the 400m individual medley, the 200m back, the 100m fly, and the 200m IM, Lochte claimed second in the 100m free, just behind Olympic champ Nathan Adrian. He says he doesn't know what he'll be swimming at the world championship trials in Indianapolis June 25-29, but its unlikely he'll do both the 400m IM and the 100m fly, which are scheduled back-to-back on Day 3.
However Lochte fares in Indy and at the Worlds in Barcleona later this summer, he'll be making changes in the fall. After 11 years in Gainesville, he's moving -- he won't say where to -- to get a different kind of training. He'll keep a place in town so he can still train with Troy on occasion. "I've already talked to him and he's okay with it," says Lochte. "Instead of being full time with him, I'm going to be going other places and doing other things."
In the next three years, he promises, those "other things" won't exclude training. "I don't know what to expect this summer because my training has not been there," he says. "So I'm taking what I can get. It's a learning experience. Living the celeb life has been fun, but I don't think I can do it full time again."
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20130603/missy-franklin-ryan-lochte-santa-clara-grand-prix/#ixzz2VD9A2f31
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