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PHILLIPS 66 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPSAugust 5, 2014Ryan LochteIRVINE, CALIFORNIA Q.  Just kind of give us an update; you had the knee surgery, you've been kind of up and down and here and there. How is your knee doing coming into this meet and what are your expectations for yourself? RYAN LOCHTE: My knee has been hurting a lot lately, and I think I'm going to pull out of Nationals and just call it an end of the year‑‑ no, just joking. I knew I was going to get that question. You know what, my knee has been doing really good. I think the biggest thing this year was just staying focused and doing my rehab and just getting my knee stronger. I mean, it's back to 100 percent. I feel like I'm doing everything that I could do before the knee surgery, so I'm in a good place right now. Q. Would you have competed in Mesa if Phelps had not made his comeback there? RYAN LOCHTE: Yeah, of course. Q. So you didn't come back too early and reinjure it that way? RYAN LOCHTE: No. Before Mesa, I was actually in 100 percent. I was fine and I was doing everything, doing breaststroke, swimming fast, and then during the last day, I kind of tweaked my knee again, and I found out that I re‑tore my knee, so it kind of set me back. That's why I didn't swim the last day of that meet. Q. When that whole thing first happened, we heard the story about the fan was kind of coming at you and you grabbed her and all that. Does she have any idea what was the result of that whole thing? RYAN LOCHTE: I mean, I'm sure she knew just because it was on social media like everywhere. But I haven't heard from whoever it was. I mean, I don't remember. I think she's in hiding. Q. It seemed like a few years ago that you always seemed like you had an idea that Michael was going to come back out of retirement. When that subject was brought up to you, you kind of would always smile and you kind of would say, we'll see. What was your instincts then and what have you thought about his comeback? RYAN LOCHTE: I think I was the first one that said he was going to come back, and I knew it just because once you have that like competitive edge, like you don't lose it. I mean, I think he was‑‑ he missed it. He missed getting up on those blocks and that excitement of racing the people next to you. I think he missed that, and that's why he came back. But I knew right when he said he was going to retire after the Olympic Games, I knew right then, he's going to be back sooner than most people think. And I was right. And I'm glad he's back. It's definitely good for the sport, and it helps me out, too, just because we push each other. Every time we go on the blocks, we never want to lose, we always want to win, and whether it's racing against him or anyone else in this world, like we want to go up there and win. He's one of the best in swimming, and I always like a challenge, so I'm glad he's back. Q. Which of your strokes is feeling the best right now, and maybe in a similar vein, which event are you most excited to swim this week? RYAN LOCHTE: I don't know. I have no idea what stroke is feeling my best right now. And I don't know what event I'm looking the most forward to. I think I'm going to take each race at a time, and just that excitement of getting on those blocks and racing the people next to me. My first race is the 100 freestyle. After that we'll see how it goes and hopefully keep the ball rolling. Q. Last time we talked you seemed concerned about your knee, especially for swimming breaststroke. When did you realize that it would be good to go for the 200 IM? RYAN LOCHTE: I had no idea. The doctors and everything, they said they had no idea, too. They said I should be in like a science book because of the way I recovered so quickly. They're in shock. I'm supposed to be just getting back in the water a couple weeks ago, but I've been in the water for almost two months now. I healed up really quick. I mean, I just did everything perfect outside the pool, and it helped me recover a lot faster. Now I have no worries about doing breaststroke in the IM or anything like that. Q. And speaking of it, what events are you swimming this week? Do you know or is it going to be a day‑by‑day thing? RYAN LOCHTE: I think I'm entered in pretty much everything. I can tell you I'm not going to swim the mile. I know that for sure. But it's up to my coach, David Marsh. Whatever he says during that day, I'll swim it. I like that just because, I mean, I don't have to keep my mindset on one event. Whatever he says, I'll get up there and race and give it my all. Q. You have enough events you're really good at. How much did you think about not swimming the IM this summer to give your knees a rest? RYAN LOCHTE: I thought about it, especially when I was out of the water doing rehab. I thought about, well, maybe I should just got do the IM, stay away from it and let my knees heal. But that's not me. If you guys know me, that's definitely not the case. I can't wait until I get back on my skateboard and start skateboarding again or surfing. I mean, I'm not‑‑ I feel like if I'm ready, I'm ready, and right now I feel like I'm ready, so I'm excited to do the IM. I don't know what one. You guys will just have to wait and see which one I do. Q. A lot was made going into the London Olympics about who's the world's best swimmer, you or Michael, and the rivalry. How do you feel after the knee? Do you still feel like the same ultra‑confident guy, possibly the best swimmer in the world now after going through what you've gone through the last nine months, or do you feel like you have a little bit more left to prove now? RYAN LOCHTE: I never feel like I have to prove anything. I mean, that's up to the media. That's what you guys do. You guys put that in our heads. But for me, honestly, I go out there and I just race and have fun. That's what I love to do. I don't care about who's the best in the world. I mean, of course I want to be the best, and I always love a challenge, so I'll go up on those blocks and race anyone in any event. But in my eyes I don't think I'm the best. I want to be the best. I'm going to train every day and try to get there. But after 2012, it happened. It's in the past. I've got to take each day at a time and look in the future. I can't keep dwelling on the past no matter what the outcome was. So we'll see what happens. Q. Going into 2012 you were training in Florida, now you've got a different training camp, new coaches. Why did you make the change, and what's it been like for you training in North Carolina? RYAN LOCHTE: You know, it's like night and day. In Florida you train a lot of yardage. You know, my body‑‑ I've been at University of Florida training under Greg Troy for almost 12 years. That's where my swimming career started, and I mean, I love that place. I still think in my eyes that Greg Troy is the world's best coach. But I was getting older, and my body was getting older, so I couldn't do all that yardage that I used to when I was young. So now it was up to me to make a change in my swimming career, and I wanted to start doing more sprint events, and from just being at University of Florida, and when David was at Auburn, like we always bumped heads, and I knew what he was capable of doing because I've seen it with the Auburn sprint program that he did there. I mean, it was a no‑brainer that I wanted to go to SwimMAC and train under David, and it helps that one of my best friends is training there, too, Cullen Jones. Q. There always seems to be a narrative around you of doubters. Last year you were filming your television show, you go into Barcelona and swim three events in one day and are successful, and this year you've had everything happening with your knee, people are like, he's getting older, he's very social, he has other interests. Do you find that frustrating, that there sometimes is an element of you not being taken seriously? RYAN LOCHTE: You know, I mean, it's up to‑‑ it's what you guys think. To me it goes through one ear, out the other. I don't pay attention to it, and I can't, or else I'd probably quit swimming a long time ago. But I mean, I feel like there's always a bump in the road for me. It's never a smooth path. I always prepared myself for the worst, and you know, I think this year has been the hardest year I've ever had in my entire life, just knee surgery, just tearing my knee like left and right, being out of the water for so long. This is the longest time I've ever been out of the water in a whole year. You know, there is doubts in my head in the beginning, in the fall, and just a couple months ago of whether, should I just stop now; I'm getting older, my body is not getting any younger, I'm falling apart. So there was a lot of doubt of ever being the same swimmer, but you know, everything happens for a reason, and you know, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Maybe this is what I needed. Maybe this is the rest I needed going into 2016 Rio. I'm going to take what I can get and I'm going to go out there and give it my all and hope for the best. Q. If Michael hadn't come back right around that time, would it have been easier for you to make that decision to just give it up? RYAN LOCHTE: No way. I mean, I like racing against Michael, but he doesn't affect how I train or how I swim. I know it's up to me. I'm swimming because I want to swim, and I love it. I'm happy swimming, and it's fun. I knew he was going to come back, and I didn't know when, but for me, it was just about me. I'm not really worried about any other swimmer. I'm focusing on me and what I have to do to be the best I can. Q. What was the most significant factor in getting from the point where you felt like your body is getting old and maybe it's time to give it up to loving the sport again? RYAN LOCHTE: It was actually in the fall when I first tore my knee. I went out‑‑ I was out of the water for like three or four months, and I just got to the point where I was like, you know, I'm doing everything I can like outside of the pool, doing rehab every day, doing weights to make it even stronger, and I wasn't in the pool at all, and I was like, I've got a couple gold medals, I guess I can be satisfied with that. You know, I turned to my family, and I think that's what I always do, no matter what in my life I turn to my family, and they helped me. They've been there through the thick and thin, and they helped me get back in that water. I still have a lot more goals in the sport of swimming that I want to accomplish, and they're probably one of the reasons why I'm back in the water. You know, I found as you get older you have to find different ways to make swimming fun again, and I think I found it. Q. Do you feel comfortable more with the new technique? Do you feel like you're more powerful, fast? How do you feel? RYAN LOCHTE: You know, it's definitely one of the things I want to do. I want to become more powerful. I want to become more of a sprint‑oriented swimmer, and that's why I moved to Charlotte. I'm still learning. David is teaching me things that I never even thought about, and I mean, I can't say much about this year because I've just been out of the water so much, but the times that I've been in the water, I've learned so much. I've changed my strokes, all my strokes pretty much, and I think‑‑ I've got to trust them, and I do. I trust him and his program and what he's capable of doing to other swimmers, so I'm going to trust him. I can't expect best times. Even though I would love me going best times in every race I do, but I can't. It's going to take time, and I know in the big picture, when it happens, it's going to happen. I don't know when, but we'll see. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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