Becoming the first major sponsor to cut ties with Lochte due to the incident, Speedo said that it can not condone Lochte’s behavior which is against the values they stood for.
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At the Rio Games closing ceremony on Sunday night, all four swimmers had left Brazil.
Gentle Hair Removal’s parent company Syneron-Candela announced Monday, “We hold our employees to high standards, and we expect the same of our business partners”.
Ralph Lauren, Gentle Hair Removal, and Airweave have also announced that they are cutting ties with the 32-year-old swimmer.
Ralph Lauren, which has so far sponsored Lochte only for the Rio Olympics, has removed some of the swimmer’s images from its website and said that their deal would not be renewed.
“We appreciate his many achievements and hope he moves forward and learns from this experience”, Speedo said of Lochte.
Lochte, who has said he aspires to be a fashion designer, was one of the most visible spokesmen for Ralph Lauren during the lead-up to the games.
Lochte originally said that he and three other swimmers from the U.S. Gunnar Bentz, Jimmy Feigen and Jack Conger were in a taxi and pulled over by men that were wearing badges on August 14.
A subsidiary of United Kingdom -based Pentland Brands Limited, Speedo announced it would donate a $50,000 portion of Lochte’s pay to a charity that works with poor children in Brazil.
“I respect Speedo’s decision and am grateful for the opportunities that our partnership has afforded me over the years”, Lochte said.
Airweave, a Japanese mattress manufacturer that had pledged to stand by Lochte, announced late Monday in a tweet that it, too, would drop him “after careful consideration”.
Lochte, meanwhile, said he would continue to swim even if sanctioned by the U.S. Olympic Committee for his lack of honesty.
Lochte then over the weekend said he over exaggerated some details but says he had a gun pointed at both he and the others.
He later admitted being highly intoxicated during the incident.
The reproduction of the story/photograph in any form will be liable for legal action. Bentz issued a statement saying Lochte tore a sign off a wall at the gas station and got into a heated exchange with the security officers, though Bentz denied the swimmers did any damage to a locked bathroom as authorities alleged.
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Long one of the most popular US athletes, the laid-back swimmer is known for his trademark saying “Jeah!” and such antics as wearing diamond grillz on the medal stand and dying his hair a silvery color before the Rio Games.
