In the 126-year history of the modern Olympic Games, a total of 40 world-class athletes have proved themselves capable of collecting more than 10 Olympic medals. Among this select group is Ryan Lochte, a key member of the Team USA swimming team that dominated four consecutive Summer Games between 2004 and 2016. In Olympic competition, Lochte received a total of 12 winner's medals - a historic number that ties him with Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres, and Jenny Thompson as the second-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history - and his seven individual Olympic medals rank second in history in men's swimming, again placing him in a tie for second among all Olympic swimmers.
This unprecedented collection contains six, or half, of the Olympic winner's medals that Lochte received during his record-breaking career. The group accounts for three silver medals and three bronze medals, one a relay and the balance individual, with the latter highlighted by the presence of Lochte's first individual Olympic winner's medal, which he won in the 200-meter individual medley at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics.
Ryan Lochte remains among the most identifiable names in American Olympic history, with his swimming resume, his national celebrity, and his post-Rio notoriety placing him into a position unique to all other athletes of his generation. In no other auction has such an offering been curated - half of the career winner's medals of one of Olympic history's most prestigious performers.
