Dave Marsh on the Swimmer’s Mindset

We all remember what happened.

Most-decorated Olympic athlete Michael Phelps’s past brushes with drugs and DUIs. Then teammate Ryan Lochte awkwardly suffering a self-imposed debacle in Rio. The media happily focused on each swimmer’s low points — sharing their failings with the entire world.

“The great thing about Ryan is he does have a very, very good heart.”

But there is far more to each man. Veteran swimming coach David Marsh, who has worked with both competitors and a variety of other elite swimmers, said high-level athletes are passionate people who “go above and beyond” in all areas of their life.

“In order to be a great swimmer, there has to be an obsessive commitment,” Marsh explained to LifeZette.

“And oftentimes, with that kind of personality, they’ll lack moderation in other areas of their life, too. Sometimes that’s a good thing, like in academics. Sometimes it’s a bad thing, as with partying. When they hit the pedal, they hit it hard and they go strong. I think there’s even an element within the culture in athletics [in which] that’s celebrated.”

That work hard/play hard mentality might be able to help athletes get out of tough emotional spots, too.

“No doubt, one of Michael Phelps’ strengths this time was that he had gone through some intensive therapy,” Marsh said. “That second DUI was a real low point in his life, and he was forced to look up, and I think, fortunately, he reacted to it well.”

Phelps did respond well. Very well. He took home four more golds from Rio and was even the U.S. Olympic team’s captain. Marsh seems especially proud of Phelps for this. “He’s never been voted team captain. Not even close. But for Rio, he was not only voted team captain, he had the most votes, so it was noticed by his peers that he’s changed. And that’s really powerful for a team to have their best athlete be different.”

Related: 11 Offbeat Olympic Moments

Of course, Phelps isn’t so different that he’s unrecognizable.

“He’s still edgy,” said Marsh. “He’ll still snap back at his coach and he’ll call out somebody for not doing what he sees as the right thing. That part hasn’t changed. What’s changed is that it just seems like his heart for others has grown. He’s on task, so there’s not really any distraction from his mission, and he’s including others in his mission. The biggest thing for Michael was going through the therapy, being committed to his fiancée, and especially having [his son] Boomer. I think that rocked his world like he couldn’t have imagined.”

“There’s an element of how you approach life in general that affects these guys,” added Marsh, “and it’s exacerbated by being a better and better athlete because more people are around you, encouraging you on, whether it be in the water or on a Saturday night at a bar. So you draw the attention.”

And Ryan Lochte, who just got engaged to model Kayla Rae Reid, had his own brush with media notoriety.

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“No doubt, part of Ryan’s challenge is deciphering who really is a friend and who is a friend that is along for the tab to be picked up for the good time,” Marsh explained. “Who stays with him five years from now when he’s not swimming anymore will be one of the telltale signs of who his real friends are.”

But Marsh believes Lochte is figuring out life after Rio well. “The heart of where he’s making his decisions has improved. The great thing about Ryan is he does have a very, very good heart. One of his biggest problems is he doesn’t say no well, so he’s affected by those around him. He’s one of those guys that just wants to make other people feel good.”

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As for Lochte’s “Dancing With the Stars” stint, Marsh is happy. “I’m really glad he has it. He needed [a goal] to get to. And honestly, I can’t imagine something more challenging than that for him.”

Marsh said he’s even seen how dance training could help Lochte in the pool.

“Honestly, the first time I watched him doing the show, he was wearing a posture device on his shoulders. I’m like, ‘There! I was trying to get him to do that for three years!’ He may come out of this show a better swimmer because he tried something that was pretty exhaustive. But I think the main thing was, it took him away from the bad experience in Rio and moved him toward something else that was challenging and to some degree public.”

Lochte’s future is bright as well, and he plans to swim in Tokyo in 2020.

“The happiest Ryan is,” Marsh explained, “is in when he’s in the water doing a hard training set. Literally, it’s where his sweet spot is. And that’s what was so disappointing about the Olympics. He had done some terrific training in the last three months coming into the Olympics and I thought, ‘He’s really gonna go very fast at the Games.’ Then in the last week or two before the Olympics, he just wasn’t able to hold the best version of himself together. We certainly didn’t see all [of the good] he is capable of in Rio.”