“The behavior of these athletes was not acceptable”.
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Ryan Lochte will be 34 when he is next eligible for a major swim meet.
That probe concluded that the swimmers had vandalized a gas station after a night of partying and gotten into a confrontation with security guards who forced them to pay for the damage.
Agreeing to suspensions of four months were Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz, and Jimmy Feigen, who were with Ryan Lochte at the gas station. The suspension was said to be a joint decision by USA Swimming, the International Olympic Committee and the USOC.
Last month, Brazilian police charged Lochte with filing a false robbery report, but Lochte has not said whether he’ll return to Brazil to defend himself.
None of the four swimmers will receive stipends from USA Swimming or the USOC during their suspensions; they will also be left out of Team USA’s visit to the White House.
Ryan Lochte, in the pool at the Rio Olympics, has been suspended 10 months, which makes him ineligible to compete in the 2017 World Championships.
Lochte, however, looks to put Rio in the past and focus more on his future, shown in clips from his appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show which is slated to air on Monday.
The 32-year-old has been suspended by United States Swimming and the US Olympic Committee until June 30, 2017, meaning he will miss next year’s FINA World Championships in Budapest.
Following the conclusion of the swimming competition in Rio, Lochte and his teammates celebrated at a party and made a stop on the way home at a gas station in order to use a restroom.
Lochte, for his part, issued a statement on Instagram on August 19 apologizing for not being more “careful and candid” in how he described the events that had occurred five days earlier.
Bentz, who is 20 will only serve community service hours for the violation of a curfew rule meant for athletes under the age of 21.
Late last month, ABC television said Lochte was joining the cast of “Dancing With the Stars”, a competition in which celebrities are paired with professional ballroom dancers.
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The 12-time medalist, 32, has been banned from both domestic and global swim team competitions through June 30, 2017, which means that he won’t be able to compete in the 2017 national championships. “When Code of Conduct infractions occur, it’s our responsibility to take action that reflects the seriousness of what happened”, USA Swimming’s Executive Director Chuck Wielgus said in the statement.
