Ryan Lochte has been in the spotlight for the past days now and it is not because of winning a medal at the recently-held Rio Olympics but due to the fact that he might have lied about the reports that he and three other U.S. swimmers were robbed at gunpoint. Lochte said in a recent interview that he over-exaggerated the facts and that his immaturity put him and the other swimmers in this situation.
Lochte sat down with NBC's Matt Lauer for his first ever television interview about the robbery incident. This comes after his claims were proven false by the authorities in Rio de Janeiro. Lauer told Lochte that the first version of his story regarding the robbery was about the mean streets of Rio de Janeiro and the version he hast told now is about the negotiated settlement that they had in order to cover up "dumb behavior," E! News reported.
Lochte said that he is taking full responsibility about the matter because if he did not over exaggerate the story, they would not be in such a mess. Originally, Lochte's passport was ordered to be seized but before a judge handling the case ordered that, Lochte has been back in the United States.
The U.S. athlete added that he over exaggerated because he felt threatened and wanted to leave the country. He said that they wanted to get out as quickly as possible so they gave the man their money. The interview of Lochte comes after he took to Facebook to say that he was not careful and candid about how he described the events leading to their money being given to the man with the gun. As opposed to Lochte's statement before that the gun was pointed at his head, he retracted that and said that the gun was pointed in their general direction.
ABC News also reported that he talked to Brazil's main broadcaster called Globo. He said that he was not lying about the robbing incident but reiterated that he over exaggerated what happened.
Officials at Rio de Janeiro claimed that Lochte and the other swimmers were not robbed as they vandalized a bathroom at a gas station and were confronted by armed security guards. They recommended that Lochte and the other swimmer, James Feigen, should be charged with false reporting. Feigen donated $11,000 to charity so as to avoid being prosecuted.
The two other swimmers, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger have returned home after giving their statements.
