Very disturbing ! Been following this story and curious of how it'll eventually turned out.
Phelps been hiding in his hotel room with his family which is smart not to get caught by the media for comments on this matter. He has more to lose than those boys.

To represent one's country in a foreign land is like wearing your fellow countrymen's faces on your head. We have locked up bathroom in almost every gas station here, so why was the fuss.

Also, if one cheats and lies about one thing make you wonder if the will cheat and lie other time.

These boys probably just thrown away most of their retirement fund over something so stupid.

sdandrea1

What's been revealed thus far would more than support that conclusion.

Lochte probably came up with the story, rehearsed it with his buddies on the way back to their rooms, and then got the hell out of dodge, not realizing the possibility that the local authorities would dig deeper.

And let's face it - thus far the games have pretty much gone on without a hitch, despite the corruption in local government, or the unsanitary conditions, or the crime and pickpocketing, etc. there've been a few minor reports of stuff being stolen, but I think that goes on just about everywhere. For the most part they've avoided the major image setback, at least based on the doom and gloom reporting the past several months leading into the event.

So when they heard about this - they had every reason to investigate... something of this magnitude could put a huge black eye on the games, and in turn could hurt future tourism dollars. To that point - one could maybe understand why corrupt officials would do everything they could to sweep this under the rug (if Lochte's allegation was true). But I think too many arrows are pointing to it being a huge made-up lie, with sufficient evidence to refute it.

None of them will get through this unscathed... but Lochte, imo, is the one who's really going to face the music image-wise. It's pretty clear that he's the ringleader, and it's being reported that he's actually had brushes with the law prior to this going back a few years. So it'll be interesting to see if he continues to stick with his story in the coming days.

If I was his father, I'd tell him to come clean. Get on a plane, head back to Rio, meet with the local authorities and confess that he lied. Tell them that he was drunk, he made a bad decision, then made matters worse by lying about what happened... apologize to the committee, and apologize to the locals for doing something that had every reason to paint them in a poor light. That would be my advise, at least if he had any hopes of marketing himself in the future. Otherwise - no company will touch him with a 10 foot pole. And they still might not after this, regardless of what he does. But at least he potentially gains a little respect from the folks back home.

It's not that we don't expect people to screw up... but when they do and get caught - we also expect them to own it. The longer he denies this, the worse it gets for him.

But based on his history, I seriously doubt that he'll do much more than release a statement apologizing, then try to pretend none of this ever happened. If, in fact, he even decides to admit that it was a cockamamie story to begin with.

      PA-PLAYA But based on his history, I seriously doubt that he'll do much more than release a statement apologizing, then try to pretend none of this ever happened. If, in fact, he even decides to admit that it was a cockamamie story to begin with.

      I'd be surprised if Lochte would even do that.
      Unfortunately, there was a pattern of his behavior. Leaving the Country immediately after the incident tells the whole story.
      No sponsorship nor endorsement in his future. He'd better plan on what to do after his competitive days are over.

      You were right, too little to late to try to make it right. But the action of coming to face the consequences will make him a better person in the future.

        "unworthy of being called an Olympian".... don't you mean, they fit right in with the rest of the bunch???

          LBlack14 "unworthy of being called an Olympian".... don't you mean, they fit right in with the rest of the bunch???

          The biggest crime continues to be the syndicate running things.

              Spuzz

              Truth. I just read where a European committee member was implicated for accepting money in exchange for returned favors. There's no doubt whatsoever that the house continues to need cleaning within the IOC.

              No matter what continent you come from, no matter which team you root for (aside from Russia) - we expect the committees in charge to run a fair and clean event, to go through the entire process unbiased. When that doesn't happen, then the games become tainted... it doesn't necessarily take away from the individuals competing, but it does impact the overall legitimacy of the event itself. It is a cloud that need not be there, the corruption is clearly evident.

              Hopefully, for the sake of the Olympics moving forward, this changes for the better. If not... then a lot of people will stop watching and see it for what it is. And if you're someone who's spent their entire life working and preparing for that opportunity - it is indeed a depressing situation. If for no other reason than to honor those athletes who've invested so much, they need to get their collective shit together and remove the opportunists who look to gain financially from their corrupt decision making.

                The boxing has once again come under more scrutiny as well, which is not PED related btw.

                One Irish boxer made his statement in a not so subtle way, and it is not a "sour grapes" story either, like the Boxing Syndicate (AIBA) wants you to believe.

                https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/18/aiba-top-boxing-executive-olympics-rio-judging-controversy

                https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/aug/17/michael-conlan-boxing-black-eye-rio-olympic-games

                http://cdn-r1.unilad.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/GettyImages-590190814.jpg

                Yet another reminder of how grateful I am that I wasn't famous when I was young and did a lot of stupid things while intoxicated. A very odd situation with, I'm pretty sure, some bad acting by both the swimmers and the gas station people, but generally something that would be soon forgotten if it weren't for the video that will circulate the internet and gossip TV forever. Hopefully the athletes will have the opportunity to straighten up and put this behind them and get on with whatever they will do for the rest of their lives.

                Something interesting that was pointed out by Judge Janine on Fox this morning is that there is apparently 3 minutes missing on the security tape that was released. I don't think this story has run it's full course yet. The only thing for sure is that Lyin' Ryan has stepped on his dick.

                Always was a douchebag, but this probably concludes the notion to the public.

                I will give him this, he was smart to get the hell out of that country before he wound up there for life. He may not be bright, but that much was smart. Whoever said he should go back.... I would not trust you as my life adviser.

                He probably screwed up and thought he could just make up a story and get away with it. It doesn't change my opinion of him, I was never a fan, but maybe just maybe others will learn from this... Oh wait, this is America, land of "it will never happen to me and if it does I'll have a comeback story that pays me even more."

                  Not one ever mentioned he was "smart".
                  He screwed up because he was NOT smart. First he made a mistake ( which in itself was not all that serious ), then he tried to covered it up ( which made it even worse than the mistake itself ).

                  Does this sound familiar ? If not happened to someone around you, just look at our presidential candidates and several past presidents.

                  Why they couldn't "come clean" ? I would respect someone whom will wear his life on his face than someone would lie and cheat trying to hide every mistake, even those humanly forgive for,

                  Was reading the autobiography by Sam Snead , and he mentioned playing with Richard Nixon, guess what he discovered about the Nixon's on course behavior ?

                  Its a lesson I hope the swimmers will learn. Getting drunk and kicking in a bathroom door is something most would overlook except those personally involved, but lying to covering it up justifiably causes mistrust by everyone and is much harder to overcome. That is unless you're a politician that can offer something paid for by the taxpayers' money that can cause many to overlook the lie and even profit from it. Not that Lochte and the other swimmers don't deserve the scorn they're getting, but they are unlikely to do anything in their lives that will actually affect most of us. Then we (collectively, not individually) turn around and accept the lies of politicians because they have something to offer us in return or because the end somehow justifies the means, and much of what they do actually does impact our lives.

                  DC300

                  Dude, he was drunk and damaged a toilet. They're not going to do more than put him in the hot seat long enough to make him come clean and apologize, maybe force him to pay a fine. I'm not aware that he assaulted anyone, or did anything beyond what is being reported.

                  Now granted - for an Olympic athlete - that's unacceptable behavior and he deserves every ounce of grief that is coming his way... but he was never going to spend a day in jail in Rio. Not for that.

                  JMO

                      1. Rio in the beginning looks bad.
                      2. Rio exonerated.
                      3. Rio wastes opportunity and again looks bad, exhorting $11,000 from US Olympian in order to get Visa back.

                        Tell that to the members of Australian team !

                        Several members of the Australian team got caught altering their credential to get into the basketball match.
                        Result sentenced down from the local judge is a 10.000 Brazilian Real for each violating members. Passport withheld until they pay up.
                        1 Real = 0.311013 USD
                        Roughly = $ 3,110

                        Pretty hefty fine, especially this had been practiced by many in the past Olympic events.

                        Umfaan

                        That's certainly how it looks.

                        It's obvious that those guys really stepped in it big-time, but aside from the punishment being considered by the US Olympic Committee - I really don't think much more than an apology and reparations for the damages to the gas station were warranted.

                        You're right though. This just reinforces the level of corruption within the local government there imo.

                          PA-PLAYA

                          He was also dumb enough to try to claim police extortion and might have gotten away with it had there not been video. That probably saved his @$$ a bit. I think it could have gone a LOT worse for him if he had stayed and the video hadn't surfaced.

                          Did anyone see his "statements" on NBC during his interview? "I'm accepting complete responsibility" wellllll with the exception of the fact that we did anything wrong because we were drunk and the guy had a gun so basically what I said was right, but it's all opinions because I don't know what happened because we were drunk and we hadn't drank in so long so uhh we were really drunk and the guy had a gun pointed in our direction and that's kinda extortion I think but we were really drunk so yeah like I said that's why I'm taking complete responsibility. ( run on sentences are intentional to try to illistrate the idiocy).

                              DC300

                              I can't disagree with you too much. I guess spending 10 years in the military probably has something to do with my take on the matter... you don't leave your buddies behind to fend for themselves, especially if you happen to be the one who created the situation to begin with. He hightailed it out of there, and left them to deal with the mess.