Sports

Ryan Lochte Answers the Burning Question Everyone’s Had During the Olympics: Yes, He Pees in the Pool

Ryan Lochte pee pool

AP

We‘ve already heard from Ryan Lochte’s mother that her Olympian swimmer son is all about the “one-night stands” — or maybe not. Either way, we’ve now got it from the gold medal winner himself on another very pressing issue: whether or not he pees in the pool.

The short answer? Yes.

Sports Illustrated (and Eddie Scarry on TheBlaze blog) flags this tidbit from Lochte’s recent interview with Ryan Seacrest on whether he uses the Olympic pool as a 50-meter urinal:

“I sure did in warm-up.”

“I think there’s just something about getting into chlorine water that you just automatically go.”

Well, there you have it. Do with it what you will.

Former U.S. National Swimming Team member Carly Geehr actually took the do-they-or-don’t-they question a step further, claiming, “nearly 100 percent of elite competitive swimmers pee in the pool. Regularly.”

“Some deny it, some proudly embrace it, but everyone does,” she wrote in a post on Quora earlier this week.

So when exactly might the temperature of the water rise just a tad? Geehr broke it down — and it‘s more varied than Lochte’s “in warm-up” response:

  • Just about the only time you can get away with peeing during a race is during a breaststroke pullout. You spend enough time gliding that if you really gotta go, you probably could. Otherwise, you’re too tense and too, well, busy to even think about peeing.
  • Before a race is an interesting time. It depends on the meet and to some extent the color of the pool deck. I kid you not. You always try to pee before you swim, but sometimes your body defies logic and finds a way to refill your bladder just to spite you. Adrenaline and nerves wreak havoc on your system, and I knew tons of other swimmers that always, regardless of prior planning, had to pee right before a race. What to do if you’re desperate? Well, it’s not uncommon to splash yourself before you climb up on the blocks, so that extra liquid on yourself and the pool deck affords you an interesting opportunity. (I’ll let you finish the rest of that thought.)
  • Warmup/practice – totally free reign. As a swimmer, you just have to accept that you’re swimming in pee. I had a teammate that would sit on the wall and announce “I’m peeing!” which was… disgusting… but at least she warned us. I‘m sure I’ve swum directly behind people who were just letting it all out.

For what it’s worth, it’s not just athletes: The Water Quality & Health Council conducted a survey in 2009 in which one in five American adults copped to relieving themselves during swim time.

By the way, the Centers for Disease Control strongly suggest pre-swim showers to remove “the sweat, cosmetics and urine that can mix with chlorine to create irritants in pool water.”

“These irritants, not the chlorine itself, cause red eyes when we swim and the strong chemical smell of some pools,” Michele Hlavsa, chief of the CDC’s Healthy Swimming Program, told CBS News earlier this year.

Comments (53)

1 2
  • perry1980
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 11:35pm

    He makes a Momma proud don’t he

    Report Post »  
    • MOLLYPITCHER
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 4:44pm

      I can‘t count the times that I’ve seen those guys deliberately take a mouthful of water and spit it out. Last night my husband made some comment about Phelps liking the taste of chlorine. I wonder what it worse, someone else’s pee, or chlorine?

      Report Post »  
  • NDPINDNT
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 9:47pm

    I wouldn’t invite this guy to a pool party! You’d have to keep one eye on him hitting on the women for a one night stand and one eye on him from entering the pool.

    Report Post »  
  • suz
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:38pm

    what’s wrong w/this guy? you don’t pee in the pool — you pee in the ocean.

    Report Post » suz  
  • Rman3
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:46pm

    I like a sign next to my friend’s swimming pool:

    “You don’t swim in your toilet, do don’t pee in my pool.”

    Report Post »  
    • Rman3
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:48pm

      Should read:
      You don’t swim in your toilet, so don’t pee in my pool.”

      Report Post »  
  • Stu D. Baker-Hawk
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:37pm

    Remind me to NEVER invite the talented Mister Lochte over to any of MY pool parties. Jeez!… How ’bout exercising a little control over your bodily functions, dude.

    Report Post »  
  • scrudge
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:37pm

    Ah Yes…. and the rest of them drink it

    Report Post »  
  • LeadNotFollow
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:34pm

    …
    This story made me think of Greg Louganis, the Olympic diver.
    He was HIV positive. Did he also pee in the pool?
    He bled in the pool, when he busted his head on the diving board.
    I don’t trust that tiny bit of chlorine and filtration, to keep other swimmers safe from disease.

    Report Post »  
  • garbagecanlogic
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:23pm

    As mentioned previously, this guy is a very immature, egotistical little kid in a big person’s body. He is a poor representative of the U.S. and another reason the olympics should be disbanded.

    Praise Be To Obama. Psalm 109:8

    The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
    The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

    Report Post »  
  • pwatkins
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:13pm

    If he pees in the hot tub on first dates, no wonder he has one night stands.

    Report Post »  
  • petey
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:09pm

    I don’t mind the peeing,I hate the spitting.I can’t stand when someone brings their lungs up and either spits in the pool or spits on the deck.Yuck and double yuck.

    Report Post »  
  • LeadNotFollow
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:56pm

    …
    That’s disgusting!
    Decent people don’t pee in the pool.

    Report Post »  
    • MOLLYPITCHER
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 4:46pm

      They should put that stuff in the Olympic pool that turns your pee blue. That would stop the peeing, and the rest from putting it in their mouths.

      Report Post »  
  • wordweaver
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:42pm

    Elite athletes peeing in pools, gays protesting Chick-fil-A, too much CO2 in the air, over a dozen civil wars raging across the globe, and millions dying of hunger – and yet, life goes on and the earth keeps spinning on its axis as it orbits the sun. Ob la di – Ob la da.

    Report Post » wordweaver  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:37pm

    Maybe the chlorine will help with that?? I don’t know. What I do know, is don’t drop the Baby Ruth in the pool…

    Report Post » KickinBack  
  • Tigress1
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:34pm

    Ewww! Micheal Phelps spewed the pool water out of his mouth (Triple H style) when he won his race!

    Report Post » Tigress1  
  • sawbuck
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:33pm

    Swift move Sport.. you just blew any chance of getting a decent sponsorship.

    Wait a minute…!

    This is anything goes ..let your freak flag ..fly …2012 .

    You will probably land the mother of all endorsements….. Pampers…!

    Report Post » sawbuck  
  • angelcat
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:16pm

    Makes me happy that I hate to swim

    Report Post »  
  • The-Real-Enrico
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:15pm

    I love swimming and this is why I can not use public pools. I have never urinated in a pool or ever felt the want or need to.

    People like this are disgusting. He might be a good swimmer but he is still disgusting.

    Report Post » The-Real-Enrico  
  • hi
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:11pm

    I’m glad Pot Smoker beat Peeing One Night Stand in the 200 IM.

    Report Post » hi  
    • teebubba
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:33pm

      Well it seems we have already forgotten that the “peeing one night stand” beat the “peeing pot smoker” in the most difficult swim event the 400 IM.

      Report Post » teebubba  
    • hi
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:50pm

      But the 400 just means one has endurance. Whereas winning the 200 means you are the fastest!

      Report Post » hi  
    • teebubba
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 11:53pm

      You have a good point about Phelps being faster. Today in the 100 fly he was 7th out of 8 when the field turned and yet managed to out swim everyone on the second length.
      I am more impressed with endurance but neither came close to Phelp‘s 400 IM world record and neither’s last 50 free in that first race was as good as the 16 yo Chinese girl who clearly could beat any woman in the world in freestyle but wasn’t entered in any individual freestyle events.

      Report Post » teebubba  
  • TheCounterRevolutionary
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:04pm

    There are worse things that can happen in sports than a little peeing in a pool. For instance, I knew a guy on my wrestling team in high school who got his package groped by a kid on a rival team. He promptly got to his feet and decked the kid; knocked him out. It was disturbing, but pretty funny at the same time.

    Report Post » TheCounterRevolutionary  
  • marcus_arealius
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:02pm

    Let’s see, average urine output can be 2000 ml per day. Average voids per day is 7. That’s 285 ml per void. A 50m pool is 2.5 million liters. So the PPB is 114 (someone correct me here). 114 volumetric parts per billion per swimmer per pee. I’ve yet to decide if you could taste that dilution factor.

    Report Post »  
    • hi
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:13pm

      But you have to multiply by the hundreds of swimmers who train in the pool that day.

      Report Post » hi  
    • marcus_arealius
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:22pm

      OK. I have homework to do. I would assume the water is filtered, the question at what filter level and type. Then as some water evaporates each day the level is maintained by fresh water. How many swimmer-hours per day, etc. What we are told by medicine is that urine is sterile (assuming no urinary infections). Now to determine the sensitivity level of the human nose and taste buds.. This is becoming too much information. I’ll just stay out of the pools.

      Report Post »  
    • hi
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:30pm

      Actually I wanted to hear how you calculate the filtering part….just pretend it is one swimmer.

      Report Post » hi  
    • Chet Hempstead
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:46pm

      I think we can assume, that swimmers don’t pee ONLY in the pool. Like most of us, going just before bed and just after rising will account for much of their daily volume. I’m sure they all go in a toilet shortly before each session, so no matter how many times they go in the pool, they will all be relatively low-volume. But does it matter? Nobody is going to drink pool water, trained swimmers least of all. All pools are full of chlorine. You could drink a whole glass of pee and you would be perfectly fine, but if you drank a glass of chlorine you would die horribly. And anybody who swims in a pool for hours every day will be in the habit of showering afterwards just so their skin and hair don’t get too dried out.

      Report Post »  
    • SgtB
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 11:12am

      I’m with Chet on this one. Urine is sterile, far less toxic than chlorine, and actually can be used to reverse alot of the effects that chlorine has on your skin. I’d rather they not put the chlorine in the pools at all than regulate pool peeing. Sure, it is a socially taboo thing to do, but the science behind not peeing in a pool is just not there. Urine is just the extra water, proteins, and hormones that are filtered out by your kidneys. If anything, urine has provided humanity with more medicinal compounds than anything else. Everything from skin moisturizers to weight loss hormones and even some cancer drugs have been isolated from urine. I’ll still swim in the pool, just don’t drink the water. Same rules as any other body of water.

      Report Post » SgtB  
  • N37BU6
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 5:59pm

    I have it on good authority that Harry Reid pees on small children.

    Report Post » N37BU6  
    • bikerr
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:06pm

      Ok,now that it‘s out there let’s see him deny it!

      Report Post »  
    • marcus_arealius
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:12pm

      That’s allegedly true.. and it’s to put out the fire after he lights them up with gasoline.. I heard this someplace..

      Report Post »  
    • Ernesto69361
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 2:28pm

      Now that is friggin’ hilarious.

      Report Post »  
  • Tri-ox
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 5:53pm

    Uh, okay. Between this revelation and Lochte’s mother telling everyone yesterday that Ryan only has time for “one night stands” – I think we’ve heard about all we need to hear.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/ryan-lochte-mom-says-only-time-one-night-122924245–oly.html

    Report Post » Tri-ox  
  • Chug
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 5:49pm

    If he was peeing off the high-dive platform, now that would be a whole different matter.

    Report Post » Chug  
    • TheEDGE
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:17pm

      That’s how they do it in San Francisco………..minus the high dive………..and minus the pool.

      Report Post » TheEDGE  
  • Ceefour
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 5:47pm

    When I was 9 years old I spent 5 weeks in the Juvenile Reform school for peeing in the municipal pool…….of course I was on the 12 ft diving board…….

    Report Post »  
  • SurhanSurhan
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 5:46pm

    Stupid Americans! Why would anyone want to ask a question like that!

    Report Post »  
    • TheEDGE
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:08pm

      Typical. Mooslims have no sense of humor. Lol

      Report Post » TheEDGE  
    • Meyvn
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:24pm

      @SurhanSurhan: You mean questions like this?

      Do you use only your hand to clean your backside, SurhanSurhan?

      Report Post » Meyvn  
    • SurhanSurhan
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 5:06pm

      @ MEYVN- Yes, I meant, stupid Americans!

      Report Post »  
    • Meyvn
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 5:53pm

      Heheh!

      Report Post » Meyvn  
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