High and Dry

Ryan Lochte Apologizes for “Immature Behavior” in Primetime Mea Culpa

The swimmer appeared Saturday night in an interview hosted by Matt Lauer.
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Matt Hazlett/Getty Images.

On Saturday night, NBC’s Matt Lauer sat down with Ryan Lochte in the first interview with the U.S. Olympic swimmer since he claimed, and then admitted he falsified, a story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro. Lochte, his hair dyed back to a more sympathetic shade of brown, was subdued and earnest, tearing up at times when Lauer asked him about his fellow teammates and how they had been affected by his decision to vandalize a local gas station after a night out in the Olympic host city last weekend.

“This is why I'm taking full responsibility for my actions,” the 12-time medalist said when Lauer asked why he didn’t come clean earlier to help out his other teammates. “Because if I didn't over-exaggerate the story to what I said when I did when it first happened with Billy Bush and yourself, and I told you the full story, none of this would have happened.”

Lochte, who recently signed with the crisis management firm Hiltzik Strategies, mostly stuck to his script, reiterating again and again that he was sorry for his “immature behavior,” explaining that his intoxication clouded his judgment, and that he knows he owes a lot to his fellow team members—two of whom were detained by authorities in Brazil for questioning. He apologized numerous times, but still wouldn’t say that what he did was an act of vandalism, keeping his explanations vague. “Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion or us paying just for the damages—we don't know,” he said, referring to the $70 or so dollars that they paid after being confronted by security guards, one of whom pulled a gun on Lochte. “All we know is, there was a gun pointed in our direction, and we were demanded to give money.”

Gunnar Bentz, one of the U.S. swimmers who was detained in Rio on Wednesday, gave a more detailed report of what happened. Apparently, Lochte pulled a framed advertisement hanging on the wall to the ground at the gas station where they’d stopped for a bathroom break. When authorities showed up, “Ryan and the security guards had a heated verbal exchange, but no physical contact was made,” he said in a statement Friday.

A bilingual bystander interpreted the security guards’ demands for compensation, and the athletes were allowed to leave after they’d paid.

In interview with Lauer, Lochte also apologized for taking airtime away from other athletes, saying, “I took away from their accomplishments about this story, about me being immature for one night. I took away from that, and that's what I think hurts me the most.” When Lauer asked what he felt when he saw that his teammates had been detained in Rio after he was safe at home, Lochte said he was “hurt.”

“I let my team down,” he said. “I don't want them to think that I left and left them high and dry. They’re my teammates. I wanted to be there, and I wanted to help out in any way I could, and so I wanted to make sure they were home safe before I talked. I’m embarrassed.”

The international incident was, at least, a learning experience for the 32-year-old swimmer. “I was immature, and I made a stupid mistake,” he said. “I definitely learned from this, and I’m really sorry.”