“I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend – for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning” he said in an Instagram statement.
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“T$3 his was a situation that could and should have been avoided”, Lochte said.
“Without question, I am taking away a valuable life lesson from this situation”, Bentz’s statement concluded.
He said armed security guards then challenged the swimmers and drew their guns, telling them to sit down but Lochte stood up yelled at them – in what Bentz called a “heated verbal exchange”.
Lochte had already left Rio when the judge’s order was issued. Swimming’s biggest meet next year is the world championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Jack Conger, left, and Gunnar Bentz are escorted through Miami International Airport after arriving back in the US on Friday. Still, Lochte’s lawyer said there was more to uncover about the actions of the security guard who forced the swimmers to pay for the damage. Prosecutors said later they would appeal the fine as too low but could not stop the swimmer from leaving Brazil.
“My feeling is one of pity”, Mayor Eduardo Paes said.
Rio is plagued by violent crime and Brazil has deployed 85,000 police and soldiers to secure the Olympics.
But he maintained that he and the other athletes were frightened because a gun was involved.
US swimmer Gunnar Bentz shared his side of a story that only gets stranger by the minute.
The three swimmers kept in Brazil retracted the mugging story in interviews with police on Thursday. But Brazilian police said on Thursday that no robbery happened and that the group vandalized a bathroom at a gas station. Rather, they alleged that the Olympians vandalized a bathroom at a gas station and were confronted by armed security guards.
Bentz and Conger said in revised testimony before their departure that they were not robbed, senior Rio police officer Alexandre Braga told Reuters.
Feigen had to pay 35,000 reais ($10,800) to a Brazilian charitable cause as a condition for being able to leave the country. Attorney Breno Melaragno didn’t specify where the money will go, but his use of the term “institution” can be taken to mean a charity. Feigen gave almost $11,000 to charity to avoid prosecution.
Lochte had originally reported that he and his teammates were robbed in an incident that sparked headlines worldwide.
The IOC is looking to set up a disciplinary committee in the case and Lochte and his teammates have been admonished by the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Swimming. Veloso said the guards would have been justified in drawing their weapons because the athletes “were conducting themselves in a violent way”. Feigen gave them 100 Reals, or about $50.
Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso told AP that the athletes paid 100 Brazilian reals, or about $33, and $20 in US money to leave the gas station that night.
Bentz, who said he never gave a false account to police, and Conger arrived in Miami yesterday on an American Airlines flight.
In other Lochte news, the swimmer has reportedly jeopardized his net worth of $6 million due to his recent scandal. No guns were drawn during this exchange.
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Lochte had claimed that he and his teammates were held up at gunpoint, saying that one of the assailants cocked a gun and put it against his forehead. Still, neither he nor Lochte have extended an “I’m sorry” to the people of Rio. “He took our money, he took my wallet – he left my cellphone, he left my credentials”. His 12 medals are second only to Michael Phelps among USA male Olympians.
