Feigen was among four U.S. swimmers who Lochte said had been robbed at gunpoint by men posing as police officers at a gas station in Rio de Janeiro, a story that police maintain is false.
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In his apology, Lochte noted that the incident took focus away from many athlete’s trying to fulfill their Olympic dreams.
He said he accepted responsibility for his role in the case and had “learned some valuable lessons”.
Reports emerged Sunday morning that the four swimmers were robbed at gunpoint hours earlier. Instead, Brazilian police said the men vandalized the bathroom while intoxicated, were questioned by guards, then paid for the damage and left. Mr Lochte tweeted: “I should have been more responsible in how I handled myself and for that I am sorry”.
The public had awaited Lochte’s response after the release of closed-circuit TV footage Thursday that appeared to support at least some of the police’s assertions.
According to USA Today’s Christine Brennan, an apology was the only way for Lochte to avoid a lifetime ban by USA Swimming, the sport’s governing body in this country.
“Both guards pointed their guns at us and yelled at us to sit on a nearby sidewalk”, Bentz said.
The stories, however, seem to diverge at a single point – when Lochte re-entered a taxi after stopping at the station. The pair returned to Miami on Friday morning.
Police in Brazil said there is no evidence of a robbery and that Lochte and his teammates made up the story. USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky said Feigen was able to “secure the release of his passport this evening and is headed home”.
The decision was made, police said, in a court appearance to answer accusations that the swimmers had made false claims they were robbed.
Lochte is unlikely to be handed over for prosecution because the US-Brazil extradition treaty covers only serious felonies.
Bentz and Conger were whisked through airport security and onto a plane home Thursday night; their attorney has insisted they had nothing to do with Lochte’s story. “Once the security officials received money from the athletes, the athletes were allowed to leave”.
“I believe that all of us need to accept the apologies of the US Olympic Committee, the same way our Olympic Committee would have had to apologize if the assault had occurred”.
Melaragno did not return calls or respond to emails requesting comment, but published reports said Feigen’s payment would be directed to the Instituto Reacao, an athletic organization that had trained Rafaela Silva, who went from the City of God slum to winning a gold medal in judo and became a icon for this country’s downtrodden Afro-Brazilian population.
The New York Post screamed “Liar, Liar, Speedo on Fire”, a reference to the swimwear company that sponsors him.
“I was like ‘whatever,”‘ Lochte said in his initial account. Police were not satisfied with the swimmers’ account of the robbery-that-wasn’t incident and wanted more information.
The police early on appeared to have doubts about the 32-year-old swimmer’s veracity.
The swimmer told USA news show Today he and three of his fellow swimmers were attacked as they made their way back to the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday (14Aug16).
Feigen had agreed to pay $11,000 to a Brazilian charity, police said.
“The images do not show any kind of violence against them”.
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Veloso said it was still not decided what charges, if any, would be brought against the swimmers. “The only person that continues to say there was a robbery is (Lochte)”, Velso said after the press conference. Another person stepped in to intervene between the athletes and the guards, and the athletes left money, police said. Lochte was also described by the witnesses as angrily confrontational and drunk during the incident.
