Two former Florida swimmers have made the U.S. Olympic roster so far, and Ryan Lochte isn’t one of them.
Former Olympic medalists Elizabeth Beisel and Conor Dwyer both advanced to Rio with second place finishes in their respective events.
Meanwhile, Lochte, an 11-time Olympic medalist, was edged out in the 400 individual medley on Sunday by a pair of Georgia Bulldogs (Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland), knocking him down to third and out of the Olympics in the event.
After the race, Lochte said he had been dealing with a groin injury. He still has six chances to make the Olympics as an individual.
Beisel took American silver in the women’s 400-meter individual medley, clocking in about 3 seconds behind winner Maya DiRado. Dwyer finished less than a second behind Connor Jaeger in the 400-meter free, but beat the next-closest swimmer by about one second.
For Beisel, Rio will mark her third-consecutive Olympic appearance, the first of which came when she was 15. In her most-recent appearance at the 2012 Games in London, she won silver in the 400-meter individual medley and a bronze medal in the 200-meter backstroke.
Dwyer will be making his second-consecutive appearance in the Olympics, having won a gold medal in London as part of a first-place 4x200-meter freestyle relay team that featured Ricky Berens, Lochte and Michael Phelps.
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri
Former Gators Conor Dwyer (left) and Ryan Lochte (third from left) show off their gold medals after winning the 4x200-meter freestyle relay with a time of 6:59.70 at the 2012 London Olympics.
