Ryan Lochte and his three fellow swimmers (and partiers) have had a hell of a few days. First, there came the conflicting reports about the Olympic athletes being robbed at gunpoint. Then we all believed Lochte when the crazy details came out. Then the police started to poke holes in their story, and got suspicious enough to detain Lochte’s friends in Brazil (Lochte had already left the country). Then it appeared Lochte hilariously made everything up, as his friends threw him under the bus. Now, the pendulum has swung back in Lochte’s direction just a little bit.
At last check, the going story was that Lochte covered up an altercation at a gas station with some security guards with his robbery story, but details of that altercation have begun to emerge, and it may not have been as simple as a case of drunken bros carrying on:
BREAKING: Brazil police official: 2 security guards pointed guns at US Olympic swimmers during gas station confrontation.
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 18, 2016
We know that the swimmers were out drinking very late, and though there’s video of the gas station incident, it’s hard to discern how it started or anyone’s intent. If the security guards were overstepping their bounds, or if the drunk swimmers were confused and disoriented by the situation, that would mitigate their role in this whole embarrassing incident. Maybe they thought they were being robbed after hearing the stories of muggers dressed up as cops? Either way, they still shouldn’t have continued to make up details as the story snowballed on them.
This isn’t the end, and we’re likely to get more details soon. This story’s got the makings of an FX original series written all over it.
