Ryan Held (born June 27, 1995) is an American freestyle swimmer who specializes in the sprint events. At the 2016 US trials he qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics as a member of the 4×100 meter freestyle relay team. In the Olympic heats, he swam a split time of 47.79 on the second leg, impressing the coaching staff enough to give him the nod to swim in the final. In the final he split 47.73 on the third leg, winning the gold medal together with Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, and Nathan Adrian. Held's emotional outpouring on the medal stand was widely broadcast and made him a social media darling. He attended Christ the King grade school in Springfield, Illinois and attended high school at Sacred-Heart Griffin where he graduated in 2014. During his senior year in 2014, Held was named I