Ryan Lochte accepted more responsibility for his role in a late-night incident during the Rio Olympics that drew worldwide attention after he said he and three teammates had been robbed at gunpoint and local police called that a fabrication.
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U.S. gold medallist Ryan Lochte admitted to Brazil’s largest broadcaster Saturday night that he’d exaggerated his story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio – but insisted he did not lie. However, as Brazilian police further investigated Lochte’s claims, it was uncovered that the swimmers had in fact urinated behind the building, destroyed a door, and were asked to pay for the damages or else police would be called to the scene.
Lochte could not pointedly answer that question, but admitted, “I over-exaggerated that story”.
“There was a gun pointed in our direction”.
Lochte, 32, has not indicated whether he will compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“This crime only happens when you go to the police and you make a report, you file a report, ” said Srour, who added that she has represented Americans arrested in Brazil. “If I’d never done that, we wouldn’t be in this mess”.
While Lochte returned to the USA before a Brazilian judge ordered his passport seized, Feigen was forced to pay the equivalent of $10,800 to a Brazilian charity before he could leave the Olympic city on Friday. “Whether you call it a robbery or whether you call it extortion or us just paying for the damages, we don’t know”.
He did stand by the part of his story about a gun being drawn.
Of course, this comes after Brazilian officials confirmed that the Olympic champion and his teammates, Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, had “fabricated” a tale about what happened to them at a gas station in Brazil on August 13.
“I definitely had to much to drink that night, and I was intoxicated, and none of this would have happened if I hadn’t done that”.
“I let my team down and, you know …” he said as he started to cry.
Lochte kept repeating how “immature” his behavior had been and how sorry he was, and that he was trying to learn from his actions. “Just a police badge and they pulled us over. I think people listening at home might think that it was an embellishment at the time”.
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Lochte also apologized to the people of Rio, saying they had put on “a great Games” and he didn’t want to take away from that.
