Trouble for a great swimming champion » Auctioned off three Olympic medals

Ryan Lochte is auctioning three of the six Olympic gold medals he won in 2004, 2008 and 2016. Bidding for each of the medals started at $20,000.

“My Olympic medals are memories that I will treasure for a lifetime, but now I want them to do more than just sit on a shelf. I pass them on so they can inspire and encourage others. If these medals can give someone hope, fuel their dreams, or help them reach their full potential, then that's the best way I can give back,” Lochte told People magazine.

Ryan Lochte's Olympic Gold Medals

• 2004 – 4×200 m freestyle relay

• 2008 – 200m backstroke, 4x200m free relay

• 2012 – 400m medley, 4x200m free relay

• 2016 – 4×200 m freestyle relay

Townley Haas, Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps on top at the Rio Olympics PHOTO Guliver/GettyImages

Other sources claim that Lochte and his ex-wife, Kayla, have been sued in Florida for not paying $660,000 in taxes related to their former home.

Materials emerged claiming Lochte owed more than $270,000 to various creditors, including medical facilities and the Internal Revenue Service.

On December 10, 2025, Lochte appeared with an employee of the Goldin auction house in an Instagram video announcing that three of his six career gold medals would be up for sale.

Ryan Lochte will tell the story of his life

Lochte also announced that he will be writing a memoir. The announcement comes after a particularly tumultuous year for the former swimmer, who recently underwent a second stint in rehab. Earlier in 2018, he attended a six-week rehab program for alcohol and drug addiction.

15 Olympic medalshas Ryan Lochte in his records: six gold, three silver and three bronze

“I am very excited to announce that I have decided to write a book! After much healing and maturing, I finally have the confidence I had lost way back to give you a real picture of what it was like to be Ryan Lochte. I went from a lonely guy who only cared about surfing and hanging out with his friends—who barely kissed a girl until college—to one of the most wanted bachelors in the world. The parties, the glitz, the celebrities – a life most people couldn't imagine. I was on top of the world. And in an instant, I became the most hated person in the world,” the American began his post.

38 world medalsRyan Lochte has won 21 career short-stroke golds.

He continued: “After the scandal in Rio, I found myself at the lowest point in my life, with a son on the way with someone I barely knew, who was constantly reminding me that she would forever be disappointed in the father I had become. Someone telling me I wasn't strong enough, man enough… I just wasn't enough. I couldn't believe what my life had become.

I really couldn't. I was depressed to the core, turning to alcohol, drugs and sleep. Oh, how I sleep. Every day I woke up to be humiliated and reminded of my constant failures, day after day, until I was finally kicked out of our family home.”

At the Rio Olympics, Ryan Lochte was suspended by his country's federation for 10 months after it was discovered that he and three of his teammates lied about being robbed at gunpoint at a gas station during the Olympic competition. Lochte's initial statement to authorities was deemed an exaggeration intended to cover a confrontation with armed security guards over an alleged act of vandalism.

Ryan divorced in March from former Playboy model Kayla Rae Reid, whom he married in 2018 and has three children with. Now he is in a relationship with Molly Gillihan, an educator.

“You deserve to know the real Ryan Lochte”

The swimmer also shared: “The only thing I ever wanted was a family and to be a father, but I failed at that too. I finally found my voice and confidence that I thought I had lost forever.

The life that was completely drained from me is finally being restored. I am now surrounded by positive influences who inspire me every day, including my mother, who is finally getting to meet my children after being out of my life for too long.

I embrace the life God intended for me and I am more determined than ever to let anyone down. My children are seeing a father they never knew, and I am finally living the life I always imagined as a child.”

The twenty-seven-time world medalist in Olympic swimming concluded: “God has given me a new purpose and I will never let anyone down in my life again. Thank you to my fans and thank you to those who never doubted me, even when I could barely look in the mirror. I am forever grateful and you deserve to know the real Ryan Lochte. I can't wait to share all of you.” these soon”.