Ryan Lochte and three American swimmers fabricated getting robbed at gunpoint to cover up a video of them fighting with security at a gas station, according to Matt Gutman of ABC.
#BREAKING Brazil sources: #RyanLochte + 3 swimmers fabricated robbery story. Video shows swimmer "fighting" w/security at gas station @GMA
— Matt Gutman (@mattgutmanABC) August 18, 2016
Lochte’s story continues to derail.
The gold medal winner initially claimed he and three teammates, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen, were held at gunpoint at a party in Brazil. The story, nearly immediately, began to crack. A judge found inconsistencies with their stories as Lochte and Feigen contradicted one another what exactly happened during the robbery, and ordered them to stay in Brazil. Lochte, meanwhile, left the country immediately. His teammates were left stranded in Brazil, with Bentz and Conger being detained at the Rio airport. This latest report is another twist in what appears to be a huge screwup by the team.
You can see what appears to be Lochte’s wallet, which he claims to have had stolen, being showed during his security search.
If Lochte and his swimming teammates made up the story about getting robbed, in an attempt to cover up a fight at a gas station, they all deserve a gold medal for stupidity. I’m not sure how they expected to get away with lying, but with video reportedly showing them fighting at a gas station, and more security footage showing them with their “stolen” wallets, their original story seems like BS. We’ll know what actually happened when video is released.