And so it begins, the long journey for Olympic medals, peppered with a long string of hookups. 

The Herald Sun reports (h/t Yahoo Sports) Ryan Lochte and Australian swimmer Blair Evans showed just a touch of affection in public recently. 

Pretty much allowing for a firestorm of rumors and innuendo. 

Lochte slipped under several lane ropes to say hello to Evans near the blocks when he first spied her at training but it was the brief underwater hand touching that set poolside observers speculating.

The duo later left the pooldeck together to take the bus back to the athletes' village.

A_270309sptevans6_2_-15q0bb9_original Photo Credit: Yahoo Sports

Don't hate the player...

As we wrote a few days back, Ryan Lochte is heading into these games far differently than he did for the Beijing Olympics. 

Back in 2008, he was in a relationship with fellow swimmer Caroline Burckle. Currently, he stressed to ESPN he was heading to London as a single man with an intent on mingling. 

My last Olympics, I had a girlfriend -- big mistake. Now I'm single, so London should be really good. I'm excited.

Ds_24d_evans_lochte729_20120725001431219200-620x349_original Photo Credit: Brisbane Times

The Brisbane Times reports on the moment shared between Lochte and Evans, giving a far more measured assessment of the exchange. 

While nothing has been confirmed by either camp, the pair looked flirty in the water together, stopping to chat and laugh at the end of a lap...

...Lochte emerged from the water and came over to the 21-year-old West Australian, sat beside her and chatted for several minutes as onlookers gave inquisitive stares.

Hooking up?

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Lochte left and the shutter of cameras ceased, but after changing the American returned and he and Evans left the pool together...They may have been flirty at times, but they certainly didn't walk out hand in hand, nor were they trying to be secretive about anything...

Sure, nothing more than a friendship may be going down, but there you have the requisite smoke for the flames of a brief Olympic hookup. 

We all know the grandiose stories from the Olympic Village. 

We choose to believe Lochte is very much on his game. 

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