Did Ryan Lochte lie about getting robbed in Rio?

Did Ryan Lochte lie about getting robbed in Rio?

UPDATE: Yeah, he lied his ass off.

This past weekend saw the epitome of the highs and lows that the Rio Olympics present. Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps dominated in the pool and took him medals for their country. This was followed up by a story that took place hours later involving Lochte and two other USA swimmers getting robbed at gunpoint.

The story dominated the news cycle over the weekend for obvious reasons. Not only was this an armed robbery in Rio — something that sadly surprised no one — but it involved an American athletic hero. Lochte was fresh off winning medals in the pool, and was subsequently robbed.

Since then though, it appears that the story is unraveling on Lochte and his swimming pals. Lochte skipped out on Rio and took the first flight back to the United States to avoid being taken into custody for further questioning.

His other two swimming buddies weren’t so lucky, as both were pulled off a flight out of Rio on Wednesday night. The reasoning behind this was that Rio authorities — the three that seemingly exist — want to get the full story of what happened as there is increasing amounts of doubt as to what we were told is what happened.

Further proof of this was seen in a report from ABC News that security footage allegedly shows the swimmers breaking down the restroom door and fighting with a security guard.

That flies in the face of what we were told by Lochte, who said that the trio were robbed at gunpoint. Lochte himself has started to walk back his harrowing account of the tale, changing his story about having a gun held to his head to having a gun simply aimed at him.

Even if that was the case, that’s still intense. But the fact that Lochte’s story has already changed a dramatic detail isn’t a good sign that we were told the whole truth the first time around. We can get frustrated with the Rio authorities for allowing an environment in which athletes aren’t safe, but a lie is a lie.

Put yourself in the shoes of the Rio authorities. They’ve bungled these Olympics as fantastically as a country possibly can. The Rio Olympics are a dumpster fire — both metaphorically and literally — so there’s a element of pride at risk here. We all know that Rio has been Hell on Earth, so you can imagine how badly Rio authorities want to make sure that phony stories are exposed, as they have enough problems as it is.

Lochte might not be totally lying about what happened as something clearly did. But we haven’t been given the whole truth and things are getting shady. From Rio authorities pulling the passports of USA swimmers to Lochte leaving the country under the darkness of night, this story is far from having been completely told.