The Rio Olympics Forgives Ryan Lochte for #LochteGate
Hours after the U.S. Olympic Committee released its official statement on #LochteGate, Ryan Lochte spoke out for the first time since doubts about his reports of being robbed at gunpoint emerged this week.
In an Instagram post, Lochte began by apologizing: "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."
He called the experience of being out late in a foreign country "traumatic" and maintained he had a gun pointed at his head during the incident; that detail was in fact confirmed by Brazilian authorities.
Lochte is the first of his teammates to issue an official statement on the incident. Though all four of them are back in the United States now, there has only been news of Jimmy Feigen settling with Brazilian officials to avoid prosecution: He gave $10,800 to a Brazilian charity in exchange for his passport.
Updated 8/20, 2:20 p.m.: The Rio Olympics committee has accepted Ryan Lochte's apology.
"We obviously accept Lochte's apologies. However, we think the Brazilian people were hurt by their [swimmers] attitude. It was clear that much of the population felt humiliated by this false robbery claim and people worried that the image of Brazil was damaged by this incident," Mario Andrada, the Rio Committee's communications director, says in a Portuguese statement obtained by Us Weekly. "But, as we say in Brazil, 'A lie has got short legs.' And the population should be proud of our image around the world."
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