Lochte admits ‘immature behavior’ led to scandal
SWIMMER Ryan Lochte said he over-exaggerated what happened at a Rio gas station and acknowledged it was his “immature behavior” that got him and three teammates into a mess that consumed the final days of the Olympics.
American Lochte, in a portion of an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer that aired on Saturday, continued backtracking from a story that he initially described as an armed robbery. Police have said the swimmers vandalized a bathroom after a night of partying and armed guards confronted them and asked them to pay for the damage.
“It’s how you want to make it look like,” Lochte said. “Whether you call it a robbery or whether you call it extortion or us just paying for the damages, we don’t know. All we know is that there was a gun pointed in our direction.”
But he admitted that he understood they were being told to pay for the damage or the police would be called.
At that point, Lauer said, “You’re striking a deal. Is that fair?”
“We just wanted to get out of there,” he said, adding they were frightened.
Lauer told Lochte that his story had morphed from one about “the mean streets or Rio” to a negotiated settlement to cover up dumb behavior.
“That’s why I’m taking full responsibility for it, because I over-exaggerated the story,” Lochte said. “If I had never done that, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Lochte also said he had lied in telling NBC interviewer Billy Bush the next day that a gun had been cocked and pointed at his forehead. He said that he was still under the influence of alcohol then.
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