12-time Olympic medalist and future Dancing With The Stars contestant Ryan Lochte spoke about the fallout from his lie that sparked an international incident for the first time since the Olympics Tuesday on Good Morning America – and according to Lochte, his fabricated story about having a gun pointed to his head at a gas station in Rio de Janeiro isn’t that big of a deal.
Reports surfaced on August 14th that Lochte, along with three other American swimmers, were robbed at gunpoint in the early morning hours, a story that the other swimmers and Lochte’s own mother initially corroborated. Lochte stated that a group of men posing as police confronted him, and one pulled a gun, pointed it to his forehead and cocked it.
It was a story that everyone in America had been conditioned to expect to emerge from Brazil, given how disastrous the Rio Olympics were expected to be, but in a few days Lochte’s account had been proven false. Brazilian police disputed the story, and surveillance video from the gas station showed that a gun was never pointed at Lochte’s head. He eventually issued a non-apologyfor the incident days later, but has since been charged with following a false robbery report.
“Why did you lie?
I think it was still hours after the incident and, you know, I’m not one to make excuses but I mean I was still intoxicated. I was still going through the emotions of having a gun pulled on me, and I just … I’m human. I made a mistake, and that’s something I’m going to have to live with.”
Lochte says his legal team is handling the issue of the false report charge, and that he will pay will pay his teammate James Feigen’s $11,00 fine (which was required to leave the country) if Feigen allows him to.
“How will you respond to the charges recently filed by the Brazilian government, will you go back to Brazil and face those charges?
You know I definitely have a great team, and they’re dealing with it, all the legal issues. We’re just trying to get this over with, it’s been dragged out way too long. The media’s taken this to a whole new level, and I just want to put this behind me and move foward, and I think the rest of the world wants that too. I mean, we’ve been talking about this way too long, and there’s other bigger issues that this world is facing.
What do you say to people who say you’ve embarrassed your country?
I mean I … I think it’s everyone blowing this way out of proportion. I think that’s what happened. And, you know, like I said, I did lie about that one part, and I take full responsibility. I’m human, I made a mistake. A very big mistake.”
foxsports.com
