Excerpts of an interview with Lochte by Matt Lauer also aired on “NBC” Saturday night. “I think we ended up in the right place in terms of being able to shine a light on what really happened there”. Those guys would never [still] be in Rio – or were in Rio. “It was my immature behaviour”. He later said he “definitely had too much to drink”. “I was still intoxicated”. I’m not making that an excuse.
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“I don’t know why”, he said.
“They let down the other athletes; they let down Americans; and they let down our hosts in Rio”, Blackmun said of Lochte, a 12-time medalist, and the other three swimmers.
He admitted that he understood that he was being told that the Americans had to pay for the damages or the police would be called. “All we know is that there was a gun pointed in our direction, and we were demanded to give money”.
At that point Lauer got slightly stern with Lochte, pressing him to acknowledge how drastically his story had changed.
“We gave money, and we got out”, Lochte said in the interview. I just wanted to make sure they were home safe before I came out and talked. “And the only way we knew is … this guy saying, ‘You have to give him money.’ So we gave him money, and we got out”. “And the version we’re hearing now is much more about a negotiated settlement to cover up some dumb behavior”. Lochte has said he hopes to compete at the Tokyo Games in 2020.
In Lochte’s case, Srour pointed out, police questioned Lochte and fellow US swimmer Jimmy Feigen after reading published reports about the incident.
But now that his run at the Rio Olympics is over and the controversy over his robbery claims has continued to grow, it appears that Ryan Lochte is back with Kayla Rae Reid.
The remaining six minutes of Lauer’s interview with Lochte will air Monday on Today.
“I left details out, which, that’s why I’m in this mess”, Lochte said in response.
“I over-exaggerated that story”.
Conger and Bentz have both released statements about what happened on the night in question. The trip home for Bentz and Conger was a little more eventful.
Bentz, 20, and Conger, 21, were removed from their USA -bound flight Wednesday night by Brazilian authorities, who seized their passports and questioned them for several hours about the incident. Their passports were returned Thursday, and they flew out of Rio de Janeiro that night. “I wanted to be there”. They’re my teammates, and I wanted to be there.
“I was immature and I made a mistake, and I’ll definitely learn from this”.
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Brazilian authorities recommended on Friday that Lochte and fellow swimmer James Feigen face charges of false reporting of a crime.
