Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Held Announces Retirement
Olympic gold medalist Ryan Held on Monday announced his retirement from competitive swimming.
Held was a member of Team USA at the 2016 and 2024 Olympics, winning gold in the men’s 400 freestyle relay at both meets.
Held made the announcement on social media.
He wrote in part:
Thank you swimming for the journey of a lifetime! I could have never imagined what was in store for me when I started at the Springfield YMCA back in 2001. Nearly a quarter century later I can happily say swimming took me to 6/7 continents, 20+ countries, two Olympics, four World Championships, and most importantly, brought me lifelong friends. …
While I’m hanging up my cap and goggles professionally, you’ll still see me around on the pool deck as a masters swimmer. Maybe you will see me at the 2028 trials.
Held, 30, swam at NC State, where he was a 25-time All-American and four-time NCAA champion in the relays. He is the owner of four career World Championships medals in relays, including gold in the 400 free at Budapest in 2022. He also owns six career gold and 11 total medals at the World Short-Course Championships. Held also won three gold medals at the 2017 World University Games, including gold in the 100 free.
His biggest individual accomplishment on the international stage was silver in the 50 free and silver in the 100 free at the 2021 World Short-Course Championships in Abu Dhabi. Held trained at Arizona State ahead of the Paris Olympics and found his way onto the team in Paris. In between, he had finished sixth in the 100 free at the Olympic Trials in 2021, a spot that normally guarantees a spot in prelims, but he was left off the team because the U.S. exceeded its quota of relay-only swimmers.
He remains a member of the American record squads in the men’s 200 free relay in both short-course meters and short-course yards, set in 2018 at the World Championships and with NC State at NCAAs, respectively.
