Ryan Lochte Fails to Qualify for Tokyo Olympics, Gets Emotional While Discussing His Future

Ryan Lochte has failed to qualify for the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and he’s emotionally opening up about his future.

The 36-year-old Olympian has already won 12 medals throughout his career from swimming at four prior Olympics.

Ryan finished in seventh place in 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials on Friday (June 18) in Omaha, Nebraska. Only the top two athletes move on to the Olympics.

“Swimming has taken me so far,” Ryan said during a press conference after the meet. “Coming out of the water, just what’s swimming’s done for me and my family is unbelievable. To me, the world’s greatest sport. Very emotional. I was kind of taking it all in. I really wanted to be on the Olympic team. I think this is probably my most important swim meet that I’ve ever had in my entire career, the one that meant the most to me. So falling short and feeling like I let everyone down was one of the hardest things.”

“But I had my family there, my kids, they got to watch their daddy swim, so I guess, you know, that means everything to me,” he added.

Click inside to find out what he said about his future…

While talking about his future, Ryan said, “This is not the last you’re going to see of me. Whether it’s me swimming in the pool or me going across the world, teaching kids how to swim and getting everyone involved in the sport. I want to change the sport. I want to make it bigger. So you won’t see the last of me and I don’t know if this will be my last race. I don’t think so. Actually, I can say it won’t be. There’s still things I want to do but I guess the pressure’s off and now it’s just going to be fun.”

“I’ll quit swimming when I stop having fun…I still want to race, but as far as another Olympic trials, I don’t know about that. I’ll be 40. That’s pushing it. But we’ll see. I mean, anything can happen. I can take years off and come back and be stronger than ever, who knows. But right now I’m just going to take this all in and go see my family. My entire family,” he concluded.

Ryan was joined at the trials by his wife Kayla Rae Reid and their kids Camden, 4, and Liv, 2.