ijohnb

August 19th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^

so if I get this, he is 1) still maintaining he was robbed at gun point, and 2) apologizing for his conduct that night, when essentially the only real issue that he would have to apologize for is falsely reporting the occurence of that very incident?  Huh.

Should just gone with the athlete staple "Apologies if my conduct was misconstrued."  He will now be apologizing for this apology later today.  Could have just made it a package deal.

In reply to by ijohnb

MI Expat NY

August 19th, 2016 at 11:58 AM ^

I find it weird that everyone is so quick to accept the story of the Rio police as gospel all of a sudden.  The video snippets released do not show any vandalism, show them getting into a cab, which was apparently not allowed to leave, and show the swimmers sitting on a stoop with their hands raised.  Rio police admit that the security guard brandished a gun, demanded money, and was an off-duty prison guard (likely to have a badge).  

My guess at what happened, someone peed on a wall of the gas station, either because the bathroom was locked or occupied (hardly the world's greatest crime).  Security stopped the swimmers and demanded money.  Lochte felt like they didn't do anything wrong and was looking at a guy shouting at them in a foreign language, demanding money and holding a gun and a badge.  Lochte reasonably believes they were robbed at gun point, which is apparently what all four swimmers still contend.  

The only clear "lie" in his first story is that they were pulled over by a fake cop, and even that may not be far from the truth if their cab started to pull away and stopped because of the security guard.  

To me, unless something more comes out, this is a rare case where the non-apology, apology works.  His only transgression was some form of petty vandalism, for which he has apologized.  

 

LGenius

August 19th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^

You don't need to accept the story of the Rio police as "gospel" to easily surmise that Lochte lied his ass off to save face and in doing so shed shame on Rio. There are very important parts of his story that were obviously and completely false, and in fact quite "far from the truth". And what exactly is the "guess" you draw your conclusion based on based on? Your own experiences peeing on bathroom walls and being caught?

This may actually be one of those (frequent) cases where apologists need to admit that the person they are apologizing for is simply a douche who deserves being put on front street.

MI Expat NY

August 19th, 2016 at 12:30 PM ^

You don't?  What are you absolutely sure he lied about that doesn't come from the word of the police?  

Lochte is certainly a douche.  And it was stupid knowing his drunkn state to go and put this story in the public domain.  But if you look at the video, which is the only "impartial" evidence we have, and there is no part that doesn't back up his story other than the being "pulled-over" part.  And even that falls into the line of mere embelishment if the security guard stopped the taxi before or as it pulled away.  

 

jmblue

August 19th, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^

But then why apologize at all?  If that were the case, he may as well have stuck to his guns and he'd still have a lot of supporters.  Logic would seem to dictate that the Rio police version is pretty close to the truth for him to be compelled to make this statement (and for his teammate to pay that fine).

 

 

 

MI Expat NY

August 19th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^

Because he pissed on a wall?  Because he was out until 6:00 AM and probably drunk?  Lots of those things get you in trouble with sponsors when they come to light.  Simply to put the whole dumb story to bed? 

Have you ever apologized when you felt you've done nothing wrong just to end a stupid fight?  I certainly have.

And the guy could have paid the fine because it was made clear that was the only way he was getting his passport back.  

jmblue

August 19th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^

Have you ever apologized when you felt you've done nothing wrong just to end a stupid fight? 

 

Not to the general public.

I don't think this makes him look better from a PR standpoint.  The average person is going to just skim through this and conclude that 1) he was guilty of what the police said and 2) he's an untrustworthy liar.

If your interpretation of the events is correct, he should have just dug in his heels, maintained his innocence and there'd be a lot of "Free Ryan Lochte" people willing to accept it.

Lakeyale13

August 19th, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^

Dude didn't apologize. He lied and makes no reference to lying or apologizing to Brazil or the Brazilian people. All he made was a statement surely written by his legal / PR team that was a CYA move.

The Mad Hatter

August 19th, 2016 at 10:50 AM ^

"The fourth swimmer, Jimmy Feigen, made a deal with a Brazil judge to make a $10,800 payment and be allowed to leave the country later Friday, his lawyer said."

 

Yeah, that totally doesn't sound at all like extortion.

grumbler

August 19th, 2016 at 5:34 PM ^

The police didn't have to waste any time at all on these dbags.  The police chose to ignore real crimes to investigate these non-crimes.  Now we can see why; some Australian swimmer who actually was robbed at gunpoint and did report a crime probably isn't in a position to afford a $10,000 ransom.

I wonder if any of the ransom money will ever see government coffers.

MotownGoBlue

August 19th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^

Damn. What's the conversion rate?

Side story/cool story bro - I know a couple that ran over a guy in their car (killed him) who was attacking them during a vacation in Mexico. The local PD held the couple until a family member showed up with $10,000 cash and released them.

So IMO, the swimmers did get robbed.