Ryan Lochte wearing a red, white, and blue diamond grill (Photo : Reuters)

American Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is the crowd pleaser. Not only did he wow the crowd with his fantastic performance in the 400m individual medley, he also accepted his gold medal the coolest way he knew how - with an icy grill.

Lochte grinned as he received his gold medal flaunting a mouth full of red, white, and blue diamonds. In his introduction video, the athlete shared his 130 sneaker collection and his vast assortment of blingy watches.  Perhaps Lochte missed his calling as a rapper.

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"For those who don't know what a grill is, it's basically a retainer filled with diamonds," Lochte said in the interview. "I wear it when I go on the podium. It's just a unique way of showing personality out to everyone."

Despite his love for the shinier things in life, Lochte's grill almost cost him his medal.The 27-year-old wanted to wear his diamond grill while accepting his medal but a USA Swimming rep threatened to withhold his medal if he did so. According to USA Today, the swimmer was banned from wearing the mouthpiece while on the podium Saturday night.

ESPN's Wayne Drehs tweeted about Lochte's banned grill writing,"Lochte told me he tried to wear his grill on the podium only to have an Olympics official tell him if he did so he wouldn't get his gold."

USA Today spoke with IOC spokesman Mark Adams, who said he would look into whether or not Loche was forbidden from wearing his grill on the podium, adding, "I can only speculate that it may have been a uniform issue, that it may not have been part of the uniform."

Despite the officials' disapproval, Lochte proudly wore his flashy grill after getting his gold.