A top Brazil police official said the swimmers damaged property at the gas station.
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U.S. Swim Team member Ryan Lochte fell on his verbal sword during an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer that started airing over the weekend.
Lauer points out that someone eventually came over to help translate, and that the swimmers by nearly all accounts (the lone exception being Lochte) understood that they were being asked to pay for the damage they caused so that the cops didn’t have to get involved. “Whether you call it a robbery or whether you call it extortion or us just paying for the damages, we don’t know”. “All we know is there was a gun pointed in our direction and we were demanded to give money”. “You’re striking a deal to pay for what damage you’ve caused so that he doesn’t call the police, and this doesn’t become a bigger incident”. “We just wanted to get out of there”, was Lochte’s response.
On Friday, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte apologized for making up a story about being robbed with a gun to his head in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “All I know is I’m going to move forward from this and learn from this and better myself in making sure this never happens again”.
Speaking to NBC’s Matt Lauer, Lochte admitted his guilt while also claiming that he was deeply embarrassed for himself, his family, USA, the fans and everyone watching. He said that he was still under the influence of alcohol when he talked to Bush. Lochte admitted to that in the interview on Saturday night.
In the interview, Lauer asked Lochte how he felt about being called “vandals” by the Brazilian authorities and if he felt any guilt toward his teammates. However, that turned out to be untrue, with his teammate Gunnar Bentz actually admitting that he and his teammates were detained by security guards during a night out and ordered to pay a fine, after they had urinated in public, with Lochte also vandalizing a petrol station and behaving aggressively towards the guards.
USA Swimming and the International Olympic Committee both could sanction Lochte.
He added: “To the gas station owner, to the Brazilian police, to the people of Rio and to the people of Brazil and everyone who came together to put on these wonderful Games, I want to say that I am truly, 110% – I am sorry”.
It was not immediately clear what impact the decision might have on Feigen, but his Brazilian lawyer Breno Melaragno told the O Globo newspaper in a story posted online Saturday that his client was the victim of extortion.
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“Brazil doesn’t deserve that”, he said to Globo. “And my immature behavior tarnished that a little, and I don’t want that”, Lochte said.
