Dang! Apparently the exclusive Ryan Lochte shoe from Speedo is a little too exclusive, because, as the Ryan Lochte Official Fan Page puts it:

“While the hi-tops are specially designed by me, for me, I’ve also worked with Speedo to design a special limited edition flip flip collection – inspired by my hi-top shoe design – that will be available for purchase!” (source).

If you haven’t seen Ryan’s sequined-out green hi-tops, the photos are now online. I guess whether you like them or not is irrelevant, because they’re not for us. So much for the swim blog posts speculating about the shoe’s features, or a list of criteria for a Ryan Lochte shoe from Speedo.

It was an interesting marketing campaign though, and definitely got my attention. The Swimmers Circle even called the reveal at Nationals the “biggest mystery of the meet” (source).

The down side, however, is that I am left feeling inadequate. In a way, it makes Ryan’s celebrity persona more untouchable, rather than allowing him to connect to his fans on a footwear level. Why can’t we wear the same shoes, Ryan?

Ryan Lochte is going to debut his own Speedo shoe collection at Nationals on August 3rd, and there has been a lot of buzz and speculation about the shoes. Were they built in a secret shoe lab? Will they employ waterproof fuzz technology? What no one seems to be talking about is the fact that Speedo has been making shoes for years, so we can probably guess what the shoes will be like!

In a post on Swim Network, Mike Gustafson wrote a list of criteria for a Ryan Lochte shoe from Speedo:
1) “Slip on. Slip off. That would be ideal.”
2) I’d like to see them employ a new technology called

Since Speedo doesn’t offer a line of Ryan Lochte-esque grills (grillz?), a Ryan Lochte Footwear Collection is the next best thing for this highly marketable swimming star to put his name on.

A lot of buzz has been generated by Ryan’s immense fan base, and with the release of this teaser video, it seems everyone is anxiously waiting for the official debut during the 2010 ConocoPhillips National Championships in Irvine, California this August 3-7.

The meet will be televised nationally on NBC, but that might not include the official shoe unveiling (assuming there will be some kind of a publicity event).

The Ryan Lochte Official Fan Page on Facebook posted some new info about Ryan’s Fantapper card available from the App Store.

What is Fantapper? It looks like a multimedia ‘trading card’ that lets celebrities stream photos, videos, and tweets to an iPhone and iPad application. It’s called Fantapper because you can tap or ShakeTake

Gold Medal Mel posted a Breaking News update on his blog about the new (and official) Ryan Lochte Fan Club on Facebook. I obviously clicked ‘Like’ to follow the fan page, and also learned that Ryan will be doing a swim clinic with the Dayton Raiders to benefit the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) organization. Ryan will be at the Wright State University Natatorium tomorrow morning between 8am – 11:30am. So cool!

The deadline for buying tickets has passed, but I still think it’s exciting to know that Ryan Lochte will be in Southwest Ohio!