Ryan Lochte - Early Life

Early Life

Lochte was born in Rochester, New York, the son of Ileana "Ike" and Steven R. Lochte. His mother is Cuban and was born and raised in Havana, while his father is of German and English descent. He has two older sisters, Kristin and Megan, and two younger brothers, Devon and Brandon. During his early childhood, his family lived in Canandaigua, New York, but moved to Florida so his father could coach swimming. Lochte was taught to swim at the age of five by both of his parents. Ryan was often kicked out of his father's swimming classes for misbehaving, which often included pulling other children's legs, blowing bubbles, and hiding at the other end of the pool. Lochte only began taking swimming seriously when he was a junior in high school. Steve Lochte said, "I would send him to go shower when he was messing around. He spent more time in the showers than he did in the pool." At fourteen years old, Ryan's loss at the Junior Olympics changed his attitude towards swimming: "I suddenly said, 'I'm sick of losing'. After that I trained hard and I never lost there again."

He is a 2002 graduate of Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange, Florida.

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