So, uh… remember when Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte claimed that he and his fellow swimmers were pulled over by fake cops in Rio and mugged at gunpoint? And later how a Brazilian judge called bullshit on the story, and ordered all of their passports seized? (A little too late for Lochte, as he was already home in America, but it’s the thought that counts.)
Well it’s looking increasingly clear like Brazil was right and Lochte was wrong.
According to NBC journalist Matt Lauer, Lochte has changed his story. While he maintains that they were mugged, he’s no longer saying that their taxi was pulled over by fake police officers, nor was a gun pointed at his head.
Here’s part of the transcript from Lauer’s chat with NBC sportscaster Bob Costas:
Costas: “In his conversation with you did [Lochte] alter any of the details, tweak his story in any way?”
Lauer: “He did. He stuck to most of the story. He did change one thing. I would say he softened some things, or stepped back. One thing he did not say this time. He didn’t say he was pulled over by these people pretending to be police. They had gone to the bathroom in a gas station. They got back to the taxi and when they told the taxi driver to ‘go,’ he didn’t move. They said ‘let’s go again, we have got to get out of here’ and again the taxi driver didn’t move. And that is when he says two men approached the car with guns and badges and told them to get out and get on the ground. The three other swimmers, that you mentioned, did get on the ground. They sat on the curb. Lochte did not. He said ‘I have no reason to get on the ground.’
“Now when he talked to Billy Bush on Sunday, he said that is when the guy took the gun put it to his forehead and cocked it. When he talked to me tonight, he said ‘that is when the guy pointed the gun in my direction and cocked it.’ And I pointedly said to him ‘you had said before it was placed on your forehead and cocked.’ He said, ‘No, that is not exactly what happened.’ I think he feels it was more of a traumatic mischaracterisation. I think people listening at home might think that it was an embellishment at the time. But that is up for people to decide.”
Lauer also said that Lochte was extremely quick to deny they were making the whole thing up to “cover up some other form of embarrassing behaviour”.
Meanwhile, Rio authorities have forbidden Lochte’s teammate Jimmy Feigan from leaving the country, and earlier today pulled his other teammates Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were pulled from their flight.
BREAKING: Attorney says American swimmers pulled off US-bound plane will not be allowed to leave Brazil until they testify about robbery.
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 18, 2016
The drama continues.
