USA Today · Apr 18, 2015
Healthy Lochte begins buildup for worlds, Rio
(Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sport, Arizona Republic-USA TODAY Sport)MESA, Ariz. — What drives Ryan Lochte is elusive, something he knows he may very well never attain.
Perfection.
"I just want to have a swim meet one time where I'm like, 'That's a perfect swim meet,' " Lochte tells USA TODAY Sports. "I don't know if that will ever happen.
It's never happened. … But that's good that it hasn't happened."
Because that ideal meet — which certainly would entail a series of personal-best times, perhaps a world record or two — is essentially out of reach for Lochte, it keeps him critiquing himself. It keeps him nitpicking himself. It keeps him finding areas to improve.