On Friday’s broadcast, the NBC anchor went off on the Olympic swimmer after it was revealed his claims of being robbed at gunpoint with teammates Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, at a gas station in Brazil were false!
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“I was never a suspect in the case from the beginning (Brazilian law enforcement officials saw me only as a witness)”, Bentz said, apologizing to the United States Olympic Committee, the USA swimming team and the University of Georgia.
He continued to say that Ryan had argued with security guards who brought their guns out when the teammates attempted to leave, saying: “I can not speak to his actions, but Ryan stood up and began to yell at the guards”.
RIO DE JANEIRO Ryan Lochte, the 12-time Olympic medal victor who claimed to be robbed by men identifying themselves as police officers in Rio de Janeiro last weekend, issued an apology on Friday for my behavior in an episode that has cast a pall over the Games. But Bentz said, to his knowledge, no damage was done to the restroom. “If I didn’t do that, we wouldn’t be in this mess… none of this would’ve happened it was my immature behavior”, continued Lochte.
“I am confident that some video angles have not been shown that would further substantiate my account”.
Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medalist, Conger and Bentz were on the 4×200 freestyle relay team that won gold, and Feigen was a member of the gold-winning 4×100 freestyle relay team.
“I want to apologize for my behavior of last weekend”, Lochte said as a social media storm gathered over him at home and in Brazil.
In Friday’s message, Lochte said he regrets the way he responded to the situation.
“I should have been much more responsible in how I handled myself and for that am sorry to my teammates, my fans, my fellow competitors, my sponsors, and the hosts of this great event”, he wrote.
But Rio police said the story was fabricated.
Armed security guards then challenged the swimmers and one of them drew a gun and demanded they sit down, but Lochte then stood up and yelled at one of the guards, Bentz said, adding that he and team mate Jack Conger had tried to restrain him.
Bentz said an interpreter he believed to be a customer told the athletes they needed to pay before leaving.
Conger and Gunnar Bentz left Rio together Thursday night. “This has been an unsettling, humbling and frightening experience”.
Bentz told investigators that he saw Lochte giving an account of the night’s events to US media – Lochte spoke with NBC on Sunday afternoon.
Conger recounted a similar scene in his statement.
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Feigen is still resolving his charges before returning to the U.S.
