In the early morning of July 24, the news came that American swimming superstar and 12 Olympic medallist Ryan Rochte was banned again, and the ban will be lifted next July. Interestingly, Rochte belongs to the "self-casting net", and on May 24 this year, he voluntarily posted a photo of intravenous injection on the Internet, which caused an investigation by the American Anti-Doping Organization.
Born in 1984, Rochte competed in four Olympic Games from 2004 to 2016, winning a total of 6 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze, in addition to winning 18 gold at the Long Pool Swimming World Championships and 21 gold at the Short Pool Swimming World Championships, dominating an era with Phelps.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Rochte and his teammates called the police to say that they were robbed at the gas station, but the police investigation found that the robbery was purely fabricated, but Rochte and his teammates destroyed the public facilities of the gas station, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the Brazilian people, and a number of sponsors immediately terminated their contracts with Rochett. After the Olympics, Rocht was banned from the U.S. Olympic Committee and the American Swimming Association for 10 months, not allowing him to compete at the 2017 Swimming World Championships, and canceling his total of $100,000 in allowances and prize money.
As a result, less than a year after Rochett was released from the ban, something went wrong again. On May 24 this year, Rochte posted a photo of an intravenous injection on a social platform that caught the attention of the Anti-Doping Organization of the United States.
After investigation, the substance injected by Rochett was legal, but the dose exceeded 100 ml. In the United States, athletes may not inject more than 100 millilitres of a drug in a 12-hour period, regardless of whether the drug is contraband or not.
Rochett is banned from May 24 to July 24, 2019, and he will miss this week's National Championships, this year's Pan Pacific Swim Championships and next year's Swimming World Championships. Missing three consecutive major competitions may have a negative impact on his ability to maintain his form and compete for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. If Rochte could win gold at the Tokyo Olympics, he would become the oldest swimming Olympic champion in history.