Things had gone so well. The medals had piled up like pancakes. The light of fame shone brightly.
Now, a different light is shining on a handful of American athletes who competed at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. The antics of four swimmers have provided an ugly footnote to the international competition. And though they appear to have escaped criminal charges in Brazil, their troubles may not be over.
To recap: four members of the U.S. Swim Team, including UGA's Gunnar Bentz, were returning from a party around daybreak one week ago when their cab stopped at a convenience store for a pit stop.
“There was no restroom inside, so we foolishly relieved ourselves on the backside of the building behind some bushes,” Bentz said in a lengthy statement released Friday night. His statement went on to say that Lochte banged up a sign and then got into a shouting match with the security guards who responded to the ruckus, badges displayed and guns drawn. After handing over about $70, the swimmers were on their way.
Lochte’s initial depiction of what happened described a harrowing and very different scene.
“We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over,” he told an NBC interviewer. “They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground — they got down on the ground. I refused, I was like we didn’t do anything wrong, so — I’m not getting down on the ground. And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, get down and I put my hands up, I was like ‘whatever.’ He took our money, he took my wallet — he left my cell phone, he left my credentials.”
Officials in Rio winced. Before the games’ inception, news agencies across the world had speculated about the specter of crime in Brazil’s second-largest city. The supposed mugging of the four swimmers only underscored those concerns.
Lochte, a celebrity athlete with lucractive endorsement deals who once had his own reality show, has since apologized for his actions and for his depictions of the incident. His interview with Matt Lauer about the matter is scheduled to air during Monday’s “Today” show on NBC, and excerpts were to being rolling during NBC’s Olympics coverage and news broadcasts over the weekend.
“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,” Lochte said in his statement. “It’s traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country — with a language barrier — and have a stranger point a gun at you and demand money to let you leave.”
Meantime, the U.S. Olympics Committee, whose PR people surely didn't anticipate writing about drunken incidents of vandalism, has been busy issuing statements of its own.
On Thursday night, Scott Blackmun, the committee's CEO, promised to take a close look at the incident. In tone, his statement was reminiscent of an angry father called to take his misbehaving children home from camp.
“The behavior of these athletes is not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team USA or the conduct of the vast majority of its members,” Blackmun said. “We will further review the matter, and any potential consequences for the athletes, when we return to the United States.”
Those consequences? As of Friday afternoon, the USOC had not said. In previous statements, the committee has taken a hard-line approach to doping; that take-no-prisoners posture also may have consequences for dopey behavior.
UGA takes a comparably dim view of misbehaving students, athletes included. An excerpt from the university's Code of Conduct:
“Students and organizations are expected to abide by the conduct regulations in this code of conduct both on and off campus and acknowledge the university’s authority to take action to address behavior incongruent with these regulations, wherever that behavior may occur.”
Students charged with violating local, state or federal laws also could face campus sanctions if the alleged misconduct also violates the school code. That code also prohibits students from giving false information to police, or damaging property.
That code could well apply at the Olympics, said Athens lawyer Kim Stephens. He has represented students accused of sexual assault and recently, a UGA football player accused of shooting BB guns and damaging a dorm room.
“They (UGA) still view their code of conduct as applying to students on or office campus,” Stephens said. “They could, if the case warranted, discipline the student for violation of their student honor code.”
Brazilian discipline is unlikely now that Lochte has apologized, Feigen has coughed up nearly $11,000 and Conger and Bentz are back home after cooperating with police in Rio. All of that from a single trip to a gas station bathroom.
A lawyer who’s represented Olympians in doping cases believes what happened in Rio stands alone.
“Is it unique?” asked Brian J. Barrido, a Lynnwood, Wash., lawyer whose credentials are listed on a Team USA web site devoted to athletes’ legal protection. “Extremely, yes. This just doesn’t happen very often.”
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