Star American swimmer Ryan Lochte, who claimed that he was robbed at gunpoint in Rio with three teammates, apologised for his role in an incident that cast an embarrassing shadow over South America’s first Olympics.
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The apology appeared on the American swimmer’s official social media accounts, a day after Brazilian police accused Lochte and three of his teammates of fabricating details of their claim that they were robbed at gunpoint on August 14 by men impersonating officers.
A warrant revealed that Lochte gave a different story from one of his teammates in a deposition, where he said he was robbed of $400 by one armed robber.
But Rio’s authorities who immediately began to investigate the report discovered citing surveillance video and witness accounts, that the incident happened after the swimmers vandalized a bathroom at a gas station bathroom.
The American swimmer, who almost got charged with falsifying a criminal report in Brazil after claiming he was robbed by men impersonating as police, posted the statement on social media Friday.
Today, Lochte issued a mea culpa of sorts (kind of) after it was discovered that he and three teammates lied about being held at gunpoint in Rio.
“I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend”, wrote Lochte in the statement.
Two swimmers, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, arrived in the United States early Friday morning. “The mentions around this case were 2.5 per cent of the total mentions we had since the beginning of the Games, so it’s clear the Brazilian population felt humiliated by the early part of the issue”, he said.
He said it is “traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country – with a language barrier – and have a stranger point a gun at you“. “It’s a reminder that all of us, when we travel and especially when we represent the USA in the Olympics, are ambassadors for our country and should be on our best behavior”.
Security footage shows the athletes coming down a walkway at a gas station, as one appears to tear off a poster.
The USOC has since released an apology and the swimmers involved have been making their way back to the United States.
The lawyer for swimmer Jimmy Feigen says he will pay about $11,000 under an agreement reached with a Brazilian judge.
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The 20-year-old said that Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medalist, pulled down a metal advertisement from the wall of the gas station, then got in a confrontation with the security guards after being ordered to sit down.
