For the past week, the world looked on in confusion as U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte stated that he and teammates were robbed at gunpoint in Rio, only for Brazilian authorities to claim the story was false, and then finally information came out showing that the truth was likely somewhere in the middle.
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In an exclusive interview with Matt Lauer, Lochte admitted, “I over-exaggerated that story”.
Police later said a video showed a security official pulling his weapon to restrain a drunk and angry Lochte and his team-mates because they tried to leave after vandalising a petrol station bathroom. “Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion, or us paying just for the damages, like, we don’t know”, Lochte said.
Instead, Lochte told Lauer one of the assailants had merely pointed a gun in their direction when they emerged from a service station toilet and tried to get into a taxi, only to have the driver prevent them from getting in.
On Friday, Lochte apologized for his behavior and accepted responsibility for his role in the incident, adding he had learned some valuable lessons.
“If I had never done that, we never would have been in this mess … none of this would have happened”.
“I left details out, and that’s why I’m in this mess”, the swimmer said.
“What I’m trying to get at is the first version of the story you told, Ryan, was much more about the mean streets of Rio”, Lauer said.
Lochte’s impact on the Rio Games truly started long after his work in the pool was complete.
“They have forever put themselves on the kind of list that you don’t want to be remembered for, ” she told the AP.
Lochte also said that he had lied in telling NBC interviewer Billy Bush the next day that a gun had been cocked and pointed at his forehead.
“I’m just really sorry and I hope they can accept my apology”, he said.
In that interview, he apologized to his swimming teammates, Jimmy Feigen, 26, Jack Conger, 21, and Gunnar Bentz, 20, who police stopped from leaving Brazil over the incident.
Earlier Saturday, a Brazilian judge provided another twist to the saga, suspending permission for Feigen to leave the country – even though he had already flown home.
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The International Olympics Committee (IOC) has set up a disciplinary commission for Lochte and his three teammates. “And my immature behavior tarnished that a little, and I don’t want that”. “I wanted to be there”.
