Lauer told Lochte that his story had morphed from one about “the mean streets or Rio” to a negotiated settlement to cover up dumb behavior.
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On Wednesday, a Rio judge ordered that their passports be confiscated so that they could not leave the country, with all three questioned by police.
On Friday, the 12-time Olympic medalist posted an apology to Instagram and Twitter, writing that he was sorry for his “role in taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics”.
Asked about the exaggerations in his story, Ryan added: “It was hours after the incident happened, I was still intoxicated”. “‘We are victims. And we’re happy that we’re safe.’ In the police press conference, they said, ‘Not victims”.
“The things that you do are going to be magnified and the mistakes that you make are going to have a light shined on them in a way that’s going to make it very hard for you to overcome”, Blackmun said. “They’re vandals.’ How do you feel about that?” Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion.
As a result, Conger and Bentz were removed from a flight returning to the USA and detained in Rio after Brazilian authorities tried to seize their passports, but by that point Lochte, who was also indicted for misleading local authorities, had already returned to the States.
In the interview with Lauer, Lochte, who returned home to Charlotte, North Carolina, appeared to concede that he knew that the guards were demanding payment for the damage done, not robbing them.
“I over-exaggerated the story”, Lochte told NBC in an interview that aired Saturday.
He continued: “Like, we don’t know”.
Lochte had originally claimed that he and three teammates-James Feigen, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz-were robbed in a taxi while heading to the Olympic Village by two men with guns and badges. Surveillance videos showed that the four swimmers had actually trashed a local gas station while intoxicated and refused to pay for any of the damage. Most notably, he stated that the gun had not been held against his head and that the event had occurred at a gas station.
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Lauer pressed Lochte on his understanding of the original situation at the gas station, given that there was a translator present. “And it was my immature behavior”. “It was my immature behavior”.
