The trouble began when media reports emerged on August 14 that Lochte and three other USA swimmers – Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen – were robbed at gunpoint when their cab was pulled over by men posing as police.
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In an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer, the 12-time medalist said he is “taking full responsibility” for the incident.
He has since apologized for embellishing his version of events.
Lochte said that he is taking full responsibility about the matter because if he did not over exaggerate the story, they would not be in such a mess.
“We hold our employees to high standards, and we expect the same of our business partners”, the company said. “Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion or us paying for the damages like, we don’t know”.
Rio officials later questioned the swimmers and refuted Lochte’s account of that night and said the Olympians were confronted by the security guard only after they vandalized the gas station bathroom and were asked to pay for the damages.
When he was asked whether he thought he was lying, he said: “I wasn’t lying to a certain extent”.
“They (the people of Rio) put on a great Games”.
That version quickly unraveled when police said the swimmers, who had attended a late-night party, never reported the incident to authorities and there was scant evidence of a robbery.
Saying it can’t condone Ryan Lochte’s behavior during Rio’s Summer Olympics, swimwear company Speedo is ending its sponsorship deal with the decorated American swimmer.
The International Olympic Committee has convened a disciplinary commission to investigate the incident and determine what sanctions the swimmers may face. The Rio police held a press conference where they confirmed “there was no robbery”, and that what had actually taken place was the vandalisation of a petrol station’s bathroom-by the swimmers.
Feigen wound up donating just under $11,000 to a Brazilian nonprofit sports organization to settle any potential legal action.
He later backtracked and said he “over-exaggerated” the story. I am unsure why, but while we were in that area, Ryan pulled to the ground a framed metal advertisement that was loosely anchored to the brick wall.
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The 12-time Olympic medallist paid the price for fabricating the claim after he and USA team-mates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and James Feigen became involved in a drunken altercation over their alleged vandalism of a Rio petrol station. He repeated his apology in an interview that aired on Brazil’s O Globo TV channel Saturday.
