Lochte first told TODAY’s Billy Bush on Sunday that he and three of his U.S. swimming teammates were robbed at gunpoint: Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen. Security guards then pulled a gun on the four men and demanded they pay the gas station attendant for the damages.
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In the interview with Lauer today, Lochte – as was the case in an apology issued yesterday – Lochte once again took “full responsibility”, but did not appear to directly address the specific charges of vandalism.
“It’s how you want to make it look like”, Lochte told Lauer.
In a previous statement, Lochte has apologized for his behavior in a statement and said that he was traumatized by being out in a foreign country with a language barrier and having a stranger point a gun at him and demand money. Their passports were returned Thursday, and they flew out of Rio de Janeiro that night. In Rio, he swam in two events, winning gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay along with Conger.
USA Swimming and the International Olympic Committee could also weigh in on additional discipline. Rio police have said that Lochte and his teammates vandalized a bathroom after a night of hard partying.
For anyone expecting him to say the “L” word, it never happened.
“I let my team down”, Lochte said when asked how he felt being home while his teammates were detained in Brazil.
He said, I “don’t know why” the original story wasn’t the truth.
He also wanted to apologize to the people of Rio and Brazil for making them look bad, especially after all the negative press the city received prior to the Olympic games.
“I left details out, and that’s why I’m in this mess”, Lochte, who recently hired Justin Bieber’s crisis publicist to manage the fallout, told Lauer. I don’t want them to think that I left them.
“Let me begin by emphasizing that I have been completely truthful in my statements throughout this unfortunate situation, including the information I provided to United States officials before leaving Brazil”, the statement said.
Lochte made headlines when the news got out that he told authorities he and several teammates from the U.S. Swim Team were robbed at gunpoint at a gas station in Rio.
They would not have been in “this mess” if it had not been for his “immature behaviour”, he admitted. Lochte admits to Lauer, “yeah, so then we had to give the money”.
The interpreter has said the swimmers pleaded with the employees not to call the police and that a weapon was produced but never pointed at the athletes. “I was a a little frightened, having a gun pointed to you”.
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Conger and Bentz left Brazil on Thursday after giving further statements to police, and Feigen left Friday after paying almost US$11,000 to charity.
