Ryan Lochte Fails to Medal During 200M Individual Medley at 2016 Olympics

For the first time in his Olympic career, Ryan Lochte failed to medal in the 200-meter individual medley after finishing in fifth place. 

Lochte finished 0.42 seconds behind bronze medalist Wang Shun. Michael Phelps earned gold, and Kosuke Hagino took home silver.

The 200-meter individual medley has been a head-to-head showdown between Lochte and Phelps in the last four Olympics with the pair finishing one-two twice (2004, 2012). Phelps came out on top each time, and the one time Lochte wasn't the runner-up (2008), he still took home a bronze medal. 

Now 32 years old and knowing the end of his Olympic career is coming sooner rather than later, Lochte did take a different approach to this year's Games. 

During an interview with Omnisport's Joe Rodgers (via the Sporting News), Lochte said he was going to stop drinking alcohol before the Olympics for the first time and changed some of his dieting habits: 

"I can always train with the best," Lochte told Rodgers (via the Sporting News), "but before I was always carefree and never really took care of my body outside the pool. But now I've been really working on eating healthy, getting the right amount of protein and the calories that I need to help me recover."

During qualifying for the 2016 Olympics, Lochte came out ahead of Phelps, and he did it while performing with a groin injury. This had the potential to be his year to make one final statement against his longtime rival. 

Instead, Lochte failed to capitalize on this opportunity. His finish outside of the top three signals a shift in how much better swimming around the world has gotten. This has been one of his hallmark events for more than a decade, only to see it end in disappointment this year. 

It's not the way anyone would have predicted Lochte's Olympics going, but he's been battling injuries and is at an age in which he can't be less than 100 percent if he wants to compete with the best athletes in the world.