Even amidst a posse of talented teenagers on the elite U.S. team of athletes, 32 year-old Ryan Lochte managed to garner himself a gold medal in the “Irresponsible All-Around” category of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Lochte captured summer headlines surrounding the second week of the XXXI Olympiad with his law-enforcement run-in, allegedly vandalizing a public building and falsely claiming victimhood of robbery at gunpoint while in Brazil, according to August reports from USA Today, CNN and The Rolling Stone. His name was splashed across the news and social media. These same sources reported critiques of his character, his maturity and his negativity that was heaped upon the Olympics’ image. Frustrations ensued when he managed to briefly detract from the spectacle that Rio de Janeiro worked to create against a world’s apprehension around their host role. His actions and personality were under scrutiny. The media sensed blood in the water, and Ryan Lochte was no longer the predator in this pool.