After conflicting reports began to emerge, a Brazilian judge ordered that the swimmers stay in Rio as an investigation ensued, but Lochte had already fled back to the States, leaving his fellow teammates stranded in Rio.
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According to the statement that his teammate Bentz gave authorities, a man who spoke English walked over and told the swimmers the guards were telling them to pay for the damage they caused, or else they would call the police. “We are victims, and happy that we’re safe.’ In the police press conference, they said ‘Not victims, they’re vandals.’ How do you feel about that?”
A bilingual bystander interpreted the security guards’ demands for compensation, and the athletes were allowed to leave after they’d paid.
“I’m not making an excuse, I’m not doing that at all, and I shouldn’t have said that”.
“That’s why I’m taking full responsibility for it, is because I overexaggerated that story and if I had never done that, we wouldn’t be in this mess”, said Lochte in an interview broadcast in part late Saturday, the peroxide color washed out of his hair.
“I don’t think the women’s canoeing like C1 or C2 belongs (in the) Olympic Games”, said Erik Vlcek, who took silver with Slovakia.
“I can only congratulate these athletes and say thank you, because this is really the spirit of the Olympic Games”.
The interview came one day after Lochte apologized to fans on social media, saying he should have been more “careful and candid” in describing what happened. Then the second guard drew his weapon and both guards pointed their guns at us and yelled at us to sit on a nearby sidewalk.
There’s been no decision by the U.S. Olympic Committee or USA Swimming as to a possible suspension for Lochte or the other three swimmers.
On Wednesday, two of the men, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, were taken off a US-bound plane at Rio de Janeiro airport and questioned by police.
Ryan Lochte found himself apologizing once again for his “immature behavior” in Rio.
“I regret this situation has drawn attention away from the Olympics, which have been hosted so incredibly well by Brazil and its citizens”, Bentz said.
In the interview, Lochte, who returned home to Charlotte, North Carolina, appeared to concede that he knew that the guards were demanding payment for the damage done, not robbing them. “Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion or us paying for the damages like, we don’t know”, Lochte told Lauer. Understandably, we were frightened and confused during this time.
“I wasn’t lying to a certain extent, I over-exaggerated what was happening to me”. “We gave them money and we got out”.
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In a separate interview with Brazilian television, Lochte admitted he was still “highly intoxicated” when he told the tall tale.
