Getting help. Ryan Lochte will reportedly seek treatment for a “serious” alcohol addiction, Us Weekly can confirm.
The Olympic gold medalist, 34, made the decision to get professional help after an incident that occurred in the early hours of Thursday, October 4, when the athlete allegedly tried to kick in his own hotel door at a Marriott hotel in Newport Beach, California.
A spokesperson for the Newport Beach Police Department tells Us that officers responded to a disturbance call of an unidentified male, who was suspected to be intoxicated, attempting to get inside a room at 3:07 a.m. The spokesperson added, “A solution that was agreeable to both parties was decided upon and police left the scene.”
No arrests were made at the time.
“Ryan has been battling from alcohol addiction for many years and unfortunately it has become a destructive pattern for him,” Lochte’s agent, Jeff Ostrow, told Us, adding, “He has acknowledged that he needs professional assistance to overcome his problem and will be getting help immediately.”
Ostrow continued: “Ryan knows that conquering this disease now is a must for him to avoid making future poor decisions, to be the best husband and father he can be, and if he wants to achieve his goal to return to dominance in the pool in his 5th Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.”
Lochte, who remarried his wife, Kayla Rae Reid, in September, is in the midst of a 14-month suspension from competitive swimming which he received in July after posting a photo of himself receiving an IV infusion on Instagram in May.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency made the decision after an internal investigation found that the athlete got an intravenous infusion of permitted substances at an infusion clinic. The The USADA typically prohibits intravenous injections unless the athlete is receiving medical treatment or has received an exemption in advance.
The swimmer — who claimed to be receiving an injection of B-complex vitamins to avoid an illness that his wife, 27, and his 1-year-old son, Caiden, had caught — spoke out against the ruling at a news conference at the time. “I have never taken a prohibitive substance. I have never attempted to gain any advantage by putting anything illegal in my body,” he said. “I would never do that; this is very serious to me. … Unfortunately, while the rule is a newer rule and is not widely known as others, I should know better.”
Lochte was also suspended from swimming in 2016 for embellishing claims that he was robbed at gunpoint during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“The suspension forces me to take a mental break,” he told Us Weekly in October of that year. “I guarantee I’ll be a better swimmer. I will have drive and purpose.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
