By Jake Carmin
The 2016 Summer Olympics are officially over, which means I must wait another four years until the rest of the nation gets as excited about swimming as I do. For a while, however, I’ll be satisfied. Team USA certainly didn’t deny us any dramatic performances.
Rio was (supposedly) Michael Phelps’ last Olympics. Yet America’s favorite merman couldn’t leave us before he’d broken an Olympic record that had stood for 2,000 years, surpassing the ancient Greek runner, Leonidas of Rhodes, who
earned twelve individual titles (the equivalent of a gold medal, since silver and bronze weren’t awarded in 164 B.C.). Phelps has 13 individual golds, nine relay golds, three silver medals, and two bronze.
While Phelps’ performance was thrilling, it was 19-year-old Katie Ledecky who dominated the pool in Rio. Ledecky “accidentally” broke the 1,500 meter freestyle world record in the prelims of a meet in April this year, yet still surprised swimming announcers, teammates and fans alike by becoming only the second woman in history to take the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle events this year. A leaderboard of the world’s fastest women’s 800 free times is now topped by Ledecky…13 times.
Unfortunately, despite these transcendent performances from Phelps, Ledecky, and a slew of other American athletes in and out of the pool, the media coverage in the latter half of the Olympics centered around only one athlete: Ryan Lochte.
Lochte and three other USA swimmers were caught on tape vandalizing a gas station restroom and urinating in bushes (Ryan! You just vandalized a bathroom!
At least use it!). Security guards stopped the Olympians and took money to pay for the damages.
Had the bad decisions ended there,thecontroversywouldhave been muted at best. Yet Lochte went on air the next day and told NBC that the four swimmers were pulled over in a taxi by police impersonators and robbed. The fib, which Lochte has almost fully recanted, caused an incident that prevented two of his teammates from leaving the country, a subpoena for Lochte himself, and could lead to six years jail time.
The problem with the debacle isn’t that Lochte embarrassed the United States; we’ve had enough to be ashamed about since election season started. The
problem is that Lochte stole the spotlight. Hours of discussion, yards of column space and far too many exclusive interviews have been devoted to the swimmer’s antics. The time and energy spent on this controversy could (and should) have been used to highlight the incredible performances of exceptionally hard-working athletes who had the common sense not to trash property in the country that had invited them to compete.
Instead, we could have focused on Lilly King, who not only won gold in the 100 meter breaststroke, but who also called out the athletes still allowed to compete despite previously being caught using performance
enhancing substances. King should have taken gold in sheer gutsiness, extending that same criticism beyond Russian athletes to include her own teammate, Justin Gatlin.
Or, the media could have focused on Kim Rhode, who has medaled on five continents and in six Olympic games. Or Meb Keflezighi, who slipped in the final steps of the marathon, but showed off some push-ups before crossing the line with a smile. Or even the severely underrated Allyson Felix, who is not only a staunch anti-doping advocate, but also officially the most- decorated track athlete in history.
Instead, we fixated on an athlete who, while undoubtedly talented, took home no individual medals and couldn’t refrain from making asinine decisions while his teammates spent their nights supporting each other. Lochte didn’t just commit a crime, he made the Olympics about him. Not, instead, about his team and the athletes who sacrificed, persevered and held the line. Team USA is stocked with exemplars of character, but Lochte? He’s little more than a distraction.
