U.S. Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ryan Lochte issued an apology on Friday and his teammate Jimmy Feigen paid 35,000 reais ($11,000) to a charity after Brazilian police said they lied about being robbed at gunpoint at the weekend.
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IOC disciplinary commissions have the power to issue sanctions, but it is an entity separate from the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Swimming and FINA, the worldwide governing body for swimming.
Lochte, 32 years old, had said the four swimmers, on their way back from a party early Sunday, were held up by men posing as police officers-an account that Rio police said Thursday had been disproved by witnesses and surveillance-camera footage.
Lochte, who left for the USA the day after the incident, has also apologised.
“It’s absolutely not true”, USOC spokesman Mark Jones said of the report, which was based on unnamed sources. Despite rebutting the swimmers’ accounts, Rio police did acknowledge that a security guard had pulled a gun on the athletes at the gas station and demanded payment for the damage, the Associated Press reported. The situation was an enormous embarrassment for the U.S. Olympic team, which has dominated in winning medals. He reiterated his view that a stranger pointed a gun at him and demanded money to let him leave the station. Conger said Lochte then ripped off a sign on the door of an outside bathroom “and made a lot of noise”, according to summaries of their statements taken by Rio police. That claim started unraveling when police said investigators couldn’t substantiate it.
Lochte, who won gold for the 4200m freestyle relay with Michael Phelps, Conor Dwyer and Townley Haas, said: “I am very proud to represent my country in the Olympic competition and this was a situation that could and should have been avoided”.
“After Jack and I both tugged at him in an attempt to get him to sit back down, Ryan and the security guards had a heated verbal exchange, but no physical contact was made”, Bentz said. Instead, they said Lochte had vandalized a local gas station early on Sunday and had an altercation with a security guard.
Like other pro swimmers, Lochte is reliant on sponsors to foot his bills so he can focus on year-round training and travel to meets without having to hold a regular job.
“Instead, it’s become this worldwide incidents, and it’s embarrassing for USOC, it’s embarrassing for Ryan Lochte, it’s embarrassing for his three teammates”, said Nancy Armour, USA Today sports columnist.
The swimmers then went on their way to the athletes’ village, where they were captured on camera joking with one another and in possession of their phones and watches, items that are often taken from victims of armed assaults in Rio.
“While we are thankful our athletes are safe, we do not condone the lapse in judgment and conduct that led us to this point”, USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus said.
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Lochte, who was silent about the situation after he returned to the United States earlier this week, said he wanted to wait to share his thoughts until the legal situation was addressed and his teammates were allowed to come home. “It is not representative of what is expected as Olympians, as Americans, as swimmers and as individuals”.
