Lochte?

^^^^X1000.  I personally am not a fan of his.

Andi

I think I saw that interview... ya, weird.

And Dude.. what's up with the grill?

So far I am not impressed with him as a person or a swimmer.  But it does really put a better perspective on how great Phelps really is and how amazing his 2008 performance was.

My son was Lochte's neighbor when they were students at UF. 

He was a nice guy, but definitely a "free spirit".  He was always serious about his swimming but also really liked to have fun.

He stayed in Gainesville to train after he graduated, but still pretty much lived like a student.  He had signed his big endorsement deals and funded some legendary parties, from what I've been told...

He might not be the most polished guy when giving interviews, but I wouldn't be too judgemental about him.

Mark

He's a gifted athlete and I'm impressed by that.

However my opinion of him as a person fell considerably after the interview in his house where he showed off all his sneakers and grills.  WTH is that all about?

He's not exactly "young" at 27... and spent nearly $25k on a "grill" (plus others he owns).  He's of course free to do what he wants but sure doesn't seem like smart judgment to me.

I totally respect him as an athlete.  He's amazing.  Just not so sure in the judgement category.

He's a goofball that has lots of money and spends it on silly things that makes him smile.

He's just a goof.  He is not mean.  Or vindictive.  Or cocky.  He is confident.  He just communicates in a different way than others.

Everything I've heard about him away from the pool is nothing but good things. 

Look, I don't HATE the guy or anything.  I just see this as an example of other sports stars who get a little bit of money and then spend it on stupid (yes IMO) things and end up broke by age 40.

I think it sets a bad example.  Just my opinion.

That could apply to a lot of guys in the NBA and NFL too. 

Mark

I agree.  I hate to see that happen to gifted athletes.

I think he came off as cocky during the interview - but that is possibly the fault of the editors. I can see how combining goofy and confident comes out looking not so great.

But, the majority of the interviews he has are great - he seems to have a good attitude and personality.

I do too, and it always makes my eyes roll, but now that I think about it, it makes sense. 

Here are people who dedicate their lives to discipline and hard work, in a time in their lives when a good portion of their peers are having way more fun. They put in the hours to excel. The ones who then also have the natural gifts to make it into the .00001% then get rewarded financially, in ways they could only dream of. It's like they hit a lottery of sorts. They still worked hard, beyond belief most of them - but the sudden wealth can have the same effect as an actual lottery winner. Most of those folks end up broke after buying stupid crap too. 

That said, I still roll my eyes when young guys around here work hard at low paying jobs, then when they get some money saved up, blow $1500 on a set of hubcaps. I think they're called rims now. I'm old, and uncool. I spent $300 on wheels for my bike and felt ridiculous, so I have weird standards. 

X2

He may be a goofball, a free spirit, he may be immature in places, an awful lot of young men his age are.  Not many of them can claim to be as focused, dedicated and driven in any aspect of their lives as he is in swimming.

Is it just me or are these swimmers pretty dumb.  Both the men and women don't seem to have much going on upstairs when they interview.  Maybe it's because they just got done racing.

Seems like both Phelps and Lochte are on the arrogant side but they have excelled at their sport so it's not without any backup. 

I like arrogant athletes.  Especially when they do stuff like this: (1) make the Olympic team, (2) in swimming, (3) from the United States, and (4) freakin' win.

The first time I went to an elite swim meet, a very nice lady sitting beside my son and me was kind enough to tell us who was who.  Phelps, Lochte, Jones, Tarwater and such.  She said that Lochte was always the nicest guy at the meets and always took the time to sign autographs for the kids and talk to them about swimming.  I like that too.

Yup - in the interview this thread cites (where he shows off his shoe collection - gasp), he said when he was a kid his swimming idol refused to sign an autograph for him. So if he ever got in that position he would do whatever it took to sign autographs so no kid ever felt that way about him.

I think that's pretty classy.

Edit: he also refused to say who the swim idol was to avoid the guy being embarrassed. Again, classy.

Honestly they really only get interviewed every 4 years...

Easy to judge from an arm chair. Harder to perform when you just invested everything you had emotionally and physically into the culmination of 4 years of prep and immediately afterward someone shoves a mike and a camera in your face. 

Doubt anyone would be terrible eloquent under those circumstances.

^^Agree.

Okay so he likes ridiculous looking shoes, not exactly terrible. 

He seemed like a genuine good guy and I have only seen him be extremely humble in interviews.

Also my swim coach has met both Lochte and Phelps... guess who she thinks the tool is?

If someone shoved a camera and mic in my face less than 5 minutes after I finished a Sprint or Oly I would probably sound pretty dumb too.

^^ No doubt....it's funny to read what impressions people have come up with.