Ryan Lochte has accepted a 14-month ban from competition after violating anti-doping rules, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Monday.
The six-time Olympic champion swimmer "fully cooperated" with an investigation launched by USADA after Lochte posted a picture of himself receiving IV fluids on social media in May.
The inquiry found that Lochte had "received an intravenous infusion of permitted substances at an infusion clinic in a volume greater than 100 mL in a 12-hour period without a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)." Such infusions are a violation of anti-doping rules unless they occur in the course of medical treatment, even if the substance itself is not banned.
This is the photo that got Ryan Lochte banned 14 months. pic.twitter.com/1CljxSFlzy
— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) July 23, 2018
Lochte's 14-month ineligibility period began May 24, the day the picture was posted, meaning it will expire in July 2019. That timeframe would still allow the 33-year-old swimmer to take a shot at his fifth Olympics the following year in Tokyo.
Doing so would be an attempt at reframing a legacy tarnished by his actions during the Rio Olympics, which Lochte left in disgrace after admitting he had concocted a story of himself and three U.S. swimming teammates being robbed at gunpoint. He served a 10-month suspension after that incident.
He insists no prohibited substances were involved and claims he has been penalised due to a rule he was unaware of.
"We received an IV infusion consisting of vitamins and B12. There were no prohibited substances in the infusion," Lochte said when addressing the media on Monday. "I had the IV as both Kayla [his wife] and my son Caiden were sick.
"I posted a picture on my Instagram account of Kayla and I doing the vitamin infusions. I received an inquiry from USADA about what was in the IV. I fully co-operated with their request.
"What I did not know was that, even though I was not taking any banned substances from WADA [the World Anti-Doping Agency] and there was nothing that I was taking that was prohibited on the list, in WADA's rules you can't take more than 100ml of anything in an IV infusion.
"I was not aware of that. What I was taking was over 100ml.
"I've been swimming my whole life and I've been monitored by USADA for my entire competitive career. I've never taken a prohibited substance and I've never attempted to gain any advantage over my competition by putting anything illegal in my body.
"I would never do that. This is very serious to me. I would never intentionally violate any anti-doping rule.
"Unfortunately, although the rule is a newer rule and not as widely known as others, I should know better."
