As one of the favorites at the London Olympics and someone who could potentially upstage Michael Phelps, it would stand to reason that Ryan Lochte needs to do everything he can to remain focused. For some people, remaining focused means keeping loose and having a good time. During a training session on Monday where the Americans shared the pool with the Australians, Lochte was reportedly doing just that with Australian swimmer Blair Evans.
According to the Brisbane Times, Lochte and Evans were seen chatting it up for a while between practice swims. Their actions were described as “flirty,” and after they showered and changed the two swimmers were even seen leaving the pool together.
The Courier Mail had a lot of the same to say about the 27-year-old Lochte and 21-year-old Evans, noting that Lochte “slipped under several lane ropes” to go over and greet Evans. They also reported that it was the “brief underwater handtouching” that made people who were hanging out near the poolside begin to speculate.
It should also be noted that Lochte recently said one of his biggest regrets about the 2008 Olympics was that he had a girlfriend. He said he should be able to have more fun this time around. As Lochte and Hope Solo recently described for us, the Olympic Village is the home of a lot of sexual activity during the Games. If it wasn’t, the Brazilian soccer players wouldn’t be staying here just to avoid temptation.
Maybe the two swimmers are just making friends. Maybe there’s something more to it. Maybe Michael Phelps has a hand in it and is trying to distract Lochte (yes, a few people have actually said that). Whatever the case, the duo is making for tremendous Olympic gossip.
