After being out of the public eye for the better part of the past seven years, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte has found himself back in the news recently. The most recent reason for that is because he announced that he accepted the position of assistant swimming and diving coach at Missouri State University.
He will be making $34.10 an hour in his new job. While that may not sound like much money, SwimSwam reports he will also be employed as a member of the Missouri State Aquatics club team, a USA Swimming program. He will coach once a week, alternating between all seven of their training groups.
Additionally, co-branded Lochte/Missouri State swim clinics and camps will be held in and around Springfield, the home of Missouri State. This will effectively make his role full-time and help supplement his income. Bonuses for athletic achievement are also part of his contract.
Ryan Lochte will also return to his home in Gainesville, Florida, once a month to conduct swim clinics there, as he has done since retiring from swimming.
The only thing many people wanted to talk about was his looks
While news that a 12-time Olympic medalist was taking a part-time assistant coaching job in Springfield, Missouri was a bit of a surprise for sports fans, all a lot of people wanted to talk about after the announcement was Ryan Lochte’s appearance.
“Thought it was Kash Patel at first,” one person commented on Lochte’s Instagram video.
“Everyone saying Kash Patel but I see Jersey Shore GTL vibes,” read another comment.
“Literally does not look like him,” someone else wrote, echoing many other comments.
On Thursday, Ryan Lochte, now 41, fired back at the many commenters critiquing his appearance in a video shared by his girlfriend Molly Gillihan.
“Who is this guy pretending to be my boyfriend @ryanlochte?!?” Gillihan joked in the caption.
“My phone is blowing up with everyone saying that nobody recognizes you,” Gillihan says to Lochte in the video. “You haven’t seen it? Baby, they say that you don’t look the same at all. One person said that Missouri State’s getting catfished.
“What the…? What picture are they using?” Lochte replied.
“You look good. I mean, it’s like, you’re all fit. It’s a professional picture,” she answered back.
“Oh, so they’re taking a picture of when I was working out every day, getting makeup put on me for photoshoots… back in two-thousand and like, twelve Olympics,” he responded. “We’re in 2026. What’s that? 14 years! You think I aged?!”
Molly Gillihan then admitted that she had used some dye she was using on her eyebrows on his hair right before the video went out.
“To be unrecognizable, I mean, I don’t get it… They’re all clowns, like, come on,” he concluded.