During the early morning of Aug. 14, 2016, American Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte went out for a night on the town to celebrate the ending of his successful Olympic Games. What was intended to be a fun night with teammates ended up being a night which would cause a worldwide controversy.
Lochte, an American Olympic gold medalist swimmer went out in Rio De Janerio, Brazil to celebrate his victorious Olympic Games. Just after six a.m. on the morning of Aug. 14th, 2016, Lochte, along with fellow teammates Gunnar Bentz, Jimmy Feigen and Jack Conger were said to be ‘held at gunpoint and robbed’ at a gas station in Rio de Janiero. In an interview with NBC sports, Lochte explained, “We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over.”
Lochte then went on to explain that these men posed as police officers, pulled out guns, and held the gun to his head, demanding money from the Americans. He claimed that the man who held the gun to his head took his money and his wallet but left his credentials and his cell phone. The concern for our American Olympic athletes was over pouring, especially from athletes on all different levels across the nation. When asking athletes about how they felt when they heard the news, the responses were all similar. ” I was concerned because these are people that us as athletes look up to and aspire to reach that level of athleticism.” junior field hockey player Victoria Marchiani said
As many looked at these swimmers thankful that they were safe, their emotions would soon change when they were about to find out the truth of the events that occurred that night. On Aug. 18th, just four days after the initial news broke that the swimmers were robbed and held at gunpoint, news broke that they fabricated the story of the actual events of the night. Brazilian authorities later investigated, finding out that Lochte and his three teammates were not actually held at gunpoint and robbed, but were destroying the property of the gas station and causing havoc.
For many athletes that aspire to be like these Olympians, it was disheartening to know that these icons of the United States could perform such a stunt. “I was very disappointed in the actions that these athletes had that night,” Marchiani said after finding out the actual events of the nights. “It’s okay to go out and celebrate with your teammates, but to act like an idiot and tell such a huge lie about such a scary experience is just unacceptable.”
Lochte’s punishment for the events in the 2016 Olympic Games consisted of being dropped by brands that were sponsored him, including Speedo. Lochte was also placed on a ten-month suspension, a loss of his monthly stipend and no support or access to USOC training facilities during the time of his ten-month suspension. Many people agree that this punishment is accurate for the incident that occurred in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and see fit that all these punishments are fulfilled.
