Ryan Lochte apologized Friday morning for his part in the late-night situation at a Rio de Janeiro gas station last weekend. He goes on to say, “I waited to share these thoughts until it was confirmed that the legal situation was addressed and it was confirmed that my teammates would be arriving home safely”.
Advertisement
Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte apologized Friday for his behavior in Rio that has American tabloids calling him “The Ugly American” and “The Lochte-mess Monster”.
The official says that swimmers Conger and Bentz, who were pulled off a plane going back to the United States late Wednesday, told police that the robbery story had been fabricated.
A closed-circuit gas station video of Lochte, Feigen, Bentz and Conger has been obtained by authorities in Brazil and is still under analysis.
In his statement, Lochte reiterated his claim that “a stranger” pointed a gun at him and “demand [ed] money”.
However, Rio’s civil police chief Fernando Veloso stated that no robbery was committed and the quartet “were not victims of the crimes they claimed”.
Upon further investigation, including review of surveillance video, the police said the swimmers were intoxicated and had left their taxi to use the bathroom at a gas station. In his apology he does not retract his initial statements claiming they were robbed.
The Olympic Charter allows for athletes to be disciplined “in the case of any violation of the Olympic Charter … or of any applicable public law or regulation, or in case of any form of misbehavior”.
“There has already been too much said and too many valuable resources dedicated to what happened last weekend, so I hope we spend our time celebrating the grate stories and performance of these Games and look ahead to celebrating future successes”, he wrote.
The incident and the ever-changing accounts of that night dominated Olympics coverage, sparking the hashtag Lochte-Gate.
The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) denied a CNN report that Lochte would be suspended by USA Swimming and USOC for allegedly lying about being held up at gunpoint on their way back to the athletes’ village following a night out in Rio.
A police source said Feigen’s passport would be released once he made the payment and presented a receipt to authorities. Then, another person stepped in to intervene between the athletes and the guards, and the swimmers left money, police said.
Advertisement
The swimmer told US news show Today he and three of his fellow swimmers were attacked as they made their way back to the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday (14Aug16). Feigen is able to collect his passport and return to the United States after paying a roughly $11,000 fine, according to the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
