What does the Ryan Lochte scandal mean for the future of US

The 12-time gold medalist reiterated his view that a stranger pointed a gun at him and demanded money to let him leave. The swimmers also reportedly broke a bathroom door, which the swimmers were asked to pay for by the owner of the gas station.

“I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend-for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning and for my role in taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics”, he said in a statement shared on social media Friday morning.

He said he accepted responsibility for his role in the case and had “learned some valuable lessons”.

The rapid-fire developments early Friday came hours after police announced that Lochte and three of his teammates had not been held at gunpoint after a night of partying, as Lochte claimed.

“We apologize to our hosts in Rio and the people of Brazil for this distracting ordeal in the midst of what should rightly be a celebration of excellence”, the U.S. Olympic Committee said.

A statement posted on Facebook said the decision was made in a court appearance to answer police accusations that Feigen and fellow swimmer Ryan Lochte had made false claims that they were robbed.

Gunnar Bentz, one of four U.S. Olympic swimmers implicated in the fabricated story of an armed robbery in Rio, has issued a statement that puts the blame squarely on Ryan Lochte for the whole mess.

A video shows no robbery took place, Veloso said.

“While we are thankful our athletes are safe, we do not condone the lapse in judgment and conduct that led us to this point”, USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus said.

“We accept and appreciate his apology”, said Mario Andrada, spokesman for the local organizers of the Rio Games.

A lawyer for Feigen said early Friday that the athlete planned to donate 35,000 Brazilian reals ($10,800) to an “institution” and leave the country later in the day.

Rio is plagued by violent crime and Brazil has deployed 85,000 police and soldiers to secure the Olympics. As of Friday morning, a Google news search for Lochte’s name and the Portuguese word mentiroso (“liar”) returned almost 5,800 results.

While Bentz says the guards did not brandish weapons at that moment, he does say they pulled their weapons out when teammates James Feigen and Jack Conger turned around to leave. He said a gun was pointed inches from him, not at his forehead, as he had told the network on Sunday.

Add in the storyline of these particular Olympic Games, that Rio is a lovely but troubled city, riddled by street crime, so when Lochte says he was robbed with a gun to his head, he has fed into a narrative that causes Americans to knowingly nod their heads, and proud Brazilians to shudder at the embarrassment.

But police said the swimmers were intoxicated, giving accounts full of murky details and in conflict with one another.

Incidents that would be seen simply as college hi-jinks or pranks back at home take on an entirely different meaning at an Olympic Games. It said the USA committee had initially said otherwise, causing the confusion.

Lochte had claimed that the swimmers had used a toilet at the fuel station and when they got back to their they were approached by two men with guns and badges and told them to get out and get down.