Olympic hero Ryan Lochte admits he broke his leg in a horrific car crash while picking up his children from school

Olympic champion Ryan Lochte has announced that he was in a serious car accident last winter in which he suffered serious injuries.

Lochte, 40, said he has spent the last 10 months recovering from an accident last November that left his “thigh bone broken in half.”

The six-time gold medalist collided with a truck while picking up his children – 7-year-old Caiden Zane and 5-year-old Liv Rae – from school, he recently told host Kyle Mills on his podcast “Athletes Only.”

The swimmer, who has represented the U.S. national team at four Olympic Games, said a garbage truck was parked in the middle of a busy four-lane road and there were no lights or cones to indicate that it had stopped.

The car in front of Lochte managed to swerve, but the athlete was unable to avoid the vehicle and “drove into the damn thing.”

Ryan Lochte announced that he had a serious car accident in which he suffered serious injuries

Lochte, 40, a six-time gold medalist, said he has spent the last 10 months recovering

Friends and other parents who witnessed the incident rushed to his aid, thinking he had died.

“They said, 'He's dead. He's not breathing. He's dead,'” he said. “Blood was pouring out of my head. I still have some stitches in there. I broke my femur. My femur is completely broken in half. My car is a total loss.”

Lochte and his wife Kayla, 33, who have three children together – Caiden, Liv and one-year-old Georgia June – recently spoke about the ordeal.

The couple shared a joint Instagram post with the caption: “Life's setbacks may knock you down, but they set the stage for an even stronger comeback!”

The post included a video showing Lochte's road to recovery, beginning with a clip of the former swimmer being pushed into the family home in a wheelchair by his son Caiden.

The video cuts to a shot of Lochte in a hospital gown with visible abrasions on his forehead as he takes careful steps with the help of a walker while a physical therapist looks on.

The swimmer then shows a dramatic photo of a scar that stretches almost the entire length of his hip down to his knee.

“I still have nightmares,” Lochte said on the podcast. “I still feel scared when I go to the car to go to physical therapy, for example. I still have visions of the accident. I still have visions of white lights flashing in my eyes.”

The six-time gold medalist crashed into a truck while picking up his children – Caiden Zane, 7, and Liv Rae, 5 – from school

In a clip shared by Lochte, his son Caiden can be seen pushing him in a wheelchair

The swimmer showed his progress as he jogged along the sidewalk, albeit with a slight limp

Lochte paused and became emotional, adding that it was a big problem for him “not knowing if I would wake up and see my family again.”

“In the blink of an eye, your life can be over. I'm just so thankful that no one else was hurt but me,” added the father of three.

Lochte and Kayla's video ends on a high note: the athlete shows off his progress as he jogs along the sidewalk, albeit with a slight limp.

“I still have trouble walking – but I'm doing physical therapy, my health is fine, my children are safe and everyone else in the truck is safe,” he added.

He also said that the investigator told him that they normally have to tell their relatives that people have died in incidents similar to Lochte's.

“I guess I'm a cat with nine lives,” he said. “I don't know which life I have now.”

“It's a small obstacle – a huge obstacle,” he said, “but I have to keep looking forward.”

Lochte has been controversial throughout his swimming career and his reputation has suffered in recent years.

Lochte has caused controversy throughout his career in the pool and his reputation has taken a hit

He first sparked international controversy by claiming that he and three of his teammates were robbed at gunpoint after a night of drinking during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

It later emerged that the gunmen were actually security guards and that several details of Lochte's story turned out to be fabricated. He was eventually charged with filing a false report to police, but the charges were later dropped after he apologized.

Two years later, the US Anti-Doping Agency banned Lochte for 14 months for using a banned intravenous infusion – which Lochte himself admitted in a social media post that he deleted shortly afterwards.

Overall, Lochte was banned for 24 months and has since retired after a brief return to the sport in 2021.