Update Aug. 19, 8:30 a.m. PT: Ryan Lochte issued an apology early this morning for his role in the robbery scandal, though he never actually admits to lying. “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 and for my role in taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics.”
You can read Lochte’s full statement in his tweet:
Update Aug. 18, 8:30 a.m. PT: According to New York Post, officials in Rio have determined that Lochte and his teammates lied about the alleged robbery to cover up a brawl with a security guard at a gas station.
The site reports that police obtained security footage from the gas station, showing one swimmer breaking down a bathroom door while at least one other swimmer fought with the guard.
Officials haven’t said yet whether any charges will be filed against Ryan Lochte or his teammates.
Original story:
Ryan Lochte has already detailed the harrowing night in Rio when he was robbed at gunpoint in a taxi.
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But new information from Rio’s former police chief points to the possibility that the cab driver may have set up Lochte and his friends to be robbed that night.
“Where is the taxi driver? [He] disappeared, nobody knows,” former police chief Ubiratan Angelo, who now works for a charity and research institute, told reporters after the incident.
Lochte was with three other U.S. swimmers — Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen — at the time of the incident. The U.S. Olympic swim team has released a statement saying that all four athletes are “safe and unharmed.” Still, according to Lochte, the robbery was pretty terrifying.
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Lochte said the robbery happened as he and his teammates were returning to the Olympic Village early Sunday morning after a night out in Rio.
“These guys came out with a badge — a police badge, no lights, no nothing, just a police badge — and they pulled us over,” Lochte told NBC News. “They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground. I refused. I was like, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, so… I’m not getting down on the ground.’ And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead, and he said, ‘Get down,’ and I put my hands up. I was like, ‘Whatever.’ He took our money, he took my wallet — he left my cellphone, he left my credentials.”
But wait, is Lochte telling the truth? The Rio de Janeiro court wants to seize Lochte’s and James Feigen’s passports due to inconsistencies in their stories. Apparently there’s even surveillance footage of them “arriving without signs of being physically or psychologically shaken.”
Lochte’s robbery is just one of many incidents that have athletes and fans alike worried for their safety in Rio. Previously, a security guard was shot and killed, and two Australian rowing coaches were attacked and robbed. Brazil has deployed 85,000 soldiers and police to patrol Olympics venues, more than twice the security used in Britain in 2012.
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Do you think Lochte’s lying? Let us know in the comments below.
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