On Saturday, the twelve-time medalist Ryan Lochte took “full responsibility” for the incident in Rio that landed him and three other American swimmers in a tough situation and essentially threw mud on the Team USA’s reputation during the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Lochte had told Brazilian authorities and members of the press that he and fellow teammates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and James Feigen had been robbed at gunpoint at a Rio gas station after a night of celebrating. As things started to not add up and information came forward, questions as to the truthfulness of Mr. Lochte’s account of things started being made.
Shortly after the story came out, the Rio police refuted his story altogether . But they are just stating Lochte’s Story isn’t true, they are using evidence that’s hard to deny. The Rio Police point to both surveillance video and witness testimony, they say the swimmers had vandalized the gas station restroom, then had been confronted by security guards, who took out their weapons and told them to pay for the damage before leaving the gas station.
An exaggeration is what Lochte is calling it but in reality its a flat out lie. In fact, rather than being a victim he and his friends seem to be the perpetrators with the destruction of the property. Instead of just realizing that they were in the wrong and pay back their restitution’s, they continued to destroy. Though instead of just a restroom, they almost damaged an already struggling countries reputation even more.
During an interview with the press, Lochte stated “I’m just embarrassed” and “I know what I did was wrong” during the interview. He expressed remorse that the controversy became a distraction from the Olympic games. Lochte also apologized to the people of Rio and Brazil. Though many of the people might not be so quick to accept his apology as it has brought negative media attention to a city trying to rise above.
