If Ryan Lochte is banned for the bulk of the 2017 season, including the world championships, as reports say, it might not hurt as much as another year, NBC Olympic analyst Rowdy Gaines said on TODAY on Thursday.
“It’s the year after the Olympic Games, so I think a lot of the big names are taking a year off anyway,” Gaines said.
Other top swimmers have taken the post-Olympic year off, recently Natalie Coughlin in 2009 and Michael Phelps in 2013, though Phelps retired in 2012 and came back to competition in 2014.