“I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend”, the 31-year-old swimmer wrote, “for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning”. But it’s all cool because Lochte said, “I accept responsibility for my role in this happening and have learned some valuable lessons”.
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The 12-time Olympic medalist reiterated his view that a stranger pointed a gun at him and demanded money to let him leave a gas station.
“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”.
Bentz, 20, and Conger, 21, were removed from their US -bound flight Wednesday evening by Brazilian police, who then interviewed the pair about Lochte’s claim that he, Bentz, Conger and Feigen were robbed at gunpoint in Rio.
The drama surrounding the alleged robbery and the ever-changing descriptions of it by the swimmers has shocked and deeply angered Brazilians, who said it cast a pall on their city and their Olympics during an enormous moment.
“Now Lochte says “.there has been too much said”.
“Brazil is a country that already has an inferiority complex when it comes to the United States”, said Esther Solano, a sociologist at the Federal University of Sao Paulo who was in Rio for the Games.
The saga of American swimmer Ryan Lochte and three teammates during the Rio Olympics has produced a head-spinning series of developments in Brazil and beyond. The swimmers actually caused a fight in a gas station close to the Olympic Village as they arrived drunk and ended up brawling with the security guards after damaging property inside the shop. “They were not victims of the crimes they claimed”, Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso said.
After the swimmers returned to their vehicle, according to Bentz, two men approached their auto and told them to come out. After paying, Feigen’s passport was returned. He said that under Brazilian law, a donation can be made to avoid criminal prosecution for minor offenses.
Though police appear mostly finished with their probe, the case may be far from settled.
In a statement, Lochte’s attorney Jeff Ostrow said he wasn’t aware “of the federal police recommending charges for filing a false police report”.
After days of standing by the swimmers’ story, the USOC also backed up other police evidence, including a security video showing the swimmers in an argument with staff at the Shell service station.
Veloso said the other swimmers say it was Lochte who created the lie.
The International Olympic Committee said on Friday it had set up a disciplinary commission to investigate the incident and could sanction the swimmers if they considered their behavior violated the Olympic charter in some way. Veloso said the guards would have been justified in drawing their weapons because the athletes “were conducting themselves in a violent way”. Even more damning, surveillance footage showed the men arriving back to the athlete’s village after the incident in good spirits. “Once the security officials received money from the athletes, the athletes were allowed to leave”.
In a statement only a day after returning to the U.S, Bentz revealed details of what he told Rio police when he and he’s teammate were stopped from leaving the country.
“We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over”, Lochte told NBC’s “Today” the morning after the incident. “They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground – they got down on the ground. I yelled to them to come back toward us and they complied”. The guards made a money gesture with their hands and regardless of how it started, the swimmers had a gun pointed at them and they were not allowed to leave until they had given the money, the sources said. Shifting accounts in TV interviews and social media posts.
Bentz and Conger tried to leave the country earlier this week but were denied permission until they gave their testimony to police.
While he’s medaled often, Lochte’s accomplishments have always been overshadowed by teammate Michael Phelps – the most decorated Olympian in history. Lochte won a gold in Rio in a relay race alongside Phelps. Bentz said a security guard flashed a badge at him and drew his handgun.
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The United States Olympic Committee said Conger, of Rockville, Maryland, and Bentz, of Atlanta, left Rio Thursday night after giving statements to authorities and getting their passports back.
