Interesting video interviewing Ryan Lochte on Youtube. His laidback nature has been covered many times before so I will pick out the other interesting points....
a). Best times underwater
50yds - 19.87
50m - 22.6 (Presuming LC)
b). Fell ill during Beijing
From another interview
"How did you get sick in Beijing?
When you go different countries, our team had meetings that year. They tell you what not to do, what to do when you go to this country. Well, [in] one of their meetings [they said] don’t use the tap water to brush your teeth, drink out of, whatever. I think I slept through it, or I wasn’t paying attention [laughs] ... because when I went there [to Beijing], the first thing I started using was tap water to brush my teeth. Next thing you know I was sick, I had the stomach flu, all this stuff. As soon as I stopped using the tap water, it went away. We got there Aug. 4 and I didn’t swim my first race until Aug. 9, so I was pretty much sick for about six, seven days."
c). Disappointed with his WR and Gold in the 200m Back
Felt he had a 1:52 low/1:51 high in him.
And one final Lochte story from Beijing
"Tell me about the 200m backstroke race you won in Beijing.
It was funny because in the 200 backstroke ... the suit that I wear for the 200 backstroke is legs. It’s from my hips all the way down to my ankles. And there’s a string that you’re supposed to tie and I don’t know why but I completely forgot about tying my suit. So they said, ‘Swimmers, jump in.’ As soon as I jumped in, my suit blew up into a parachute. All this water rushed in, there’s air, water in there. I was freaking out. I am at the Olympics, I forgot to tie my suit, how is this gonna happen?
I didn’t have time to tie it so I didn’t worry about it. When I did my start, I remember kicking underwater and all this water rushing in and [my suit] is going [makes gestures with his hands to demonstrate his suit filling up and bubbling out]. The whole race, I was thinking about my suit. The whole race, I was like, ‘This can’t be happening to me. This is my one chance and I am gonna blow it.’
How did you set the world record while wearing a suit with water in it?
I have no idea. I honestly think if I would’ve tied my suit and there wouldn’t have been any water rushing through it, I think I could’ve gone at least a second faster. I was ahead of Aaron Peirsol because he was right next to me. We were dead even the whole way. Going into the last 50 [meters], I remember flipping right before him. Usually my underwaters are my specialty, so I remember kicking underwater -- I saw him come up -- but I was just kicking underwater. And then at the very end I just leaned my head back, closed my eyes and just focused.
You won the bronze medal in the 200m and 400m IM races. Were you disappointed?
My first event was the 400m IM that I bronzed in. If I wasn’t sick, I think I would’ve done a lot better. I got really sick when I first got to Beijing and I think that was a factor in my performance throughout the meet. After my 400 IM I got better as the days went on, so I was able to recover for the backstroke.
The 200 IM, that was right after my 200 backstroke. I had 22 minutes in between each race. It was hard. I remember by the time I got out of the pool, I walked around in through the media and I walked down. By the time I got into the warm-down pool, I could only do one lap and then I had to get out and go to the ready room for my next event. I was sitting there ready for the 200 IM and I was still breathing heavily from the 200 backstroke. I couldn’t catch my breath so it was a hard double-double."
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