Ryan Lochte Seen Cozying Up With Australian Swimmer

If U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte is to be believed, romantic entanglements can hurt Olympic performance. But if one were to judge his actions rather than his words, it may be he’s changed his opinion.

Yahoo Sports blog Fourth Place Medal has been scanning Australian media reports, which claim that Lochte, who is considered the main challenger to Michael Phelps at the 2012 London Olympics, has been seen with Australian swimmer Blair Evans and the two seemed to be getting on — dare we say — swimmingly.

First there was the following from the Herald Sun.

“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 pool deck together to take the bus back to the athletes’ village.”

While that bit was hardly confirmation of anything, News Track India reports neither side has confirmed the rumors, more than one media outlet said the pair looked “flirty.”

News Track India, for its part, offers a possibly more benign explanation.

“They may have been flirty at times, but they certainly didn’t walk out hand in hand, nor did they try to be secretive about anything, and in a sport where swimmers are always friendly towards each other regardless of rivalries, they may simply be good friends who have met at some other event in the past,” the online news portal reported.

Aside from Lochte’s fame, potential, and previous statements about girlfriends, the other reason this got the media stirring was that Team USA and Team Australia are arch rivals in the pool, according to the Herald Sun.

Ryan Lochte has three Olympic golds and six medals total. Blair Evans has two bronze medals from the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

(Photo courtesy of Herald Sun)