When all is said and done and we look back at the performance of the United States Olympic team’s performance at the 2016 games in Rio De Janeiro Brazil, there will be many highs to reflect on. From the pool where we saw the end of the career of the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps; next to the continued emergence of 19-year-old Katie Ledecky. We saw the continued dominance of the Women’s rowing team, Ashton Eaton repeating as Pentathlon Gold Medalist, combined with Helen Maroulis becoming the first American female to win Olympic Gold in wrestling. Unfortunately, we have also seen lows by the United States in these games. Two American athletes that have had polarizing trips to Rio are Gymnast Gabby Douglas and Swimmer Ryan Lochte.
Douglas, a 20-year-old Gymnast, was already an accomplished gymnast prior to 2016 games. In the 2012 London games, Douglas along with teammates McKayla Maroney, Ali Raisman, Kyla Ross, and Jordan Wieber won Gold in the Olympic team all around for just the second time (1996 Atlanta) in US History. She also became the first African-American Olympian ever to win the individual all around. In the 2016 Douglas along with Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian and breakout star Simone Biles repeated as All-Around Champs. At 32, Lochte is likely the most well-known men’s swimmer in the United States not named Michael Phelps and for good reason. With a total of 12 Olympic Medals, including 6 Gold, Lochte is the second most decorated US Olympic Men’s Swimmer in history. Lochte has been part of the Gold Medal winning 4x200 for the last for the last four Olympic Games.
Douglas has had a turbulent games, receiving hate from back stateside over social media again and again. The criticism of the woman known as the “flying squirrel” began during the medal ceremony for the Team All-Around, during the ceremony Douglas was seen as the only US team member that was standing at attention without placing her hand over her heart during the playing of the anthem in accordance with the US Flag Code. Although it was a mistake, that Douglas has since apologized for, it is not at all uncommon. Anyone that has seen a game in the big four American Professional leagues knows that it is not uncommon for American athletes to not place their hands over their hearts during the anthem. From America’s most popular sport of football to America’s past time of baseball a simple Google image search will show you pictures of multiple professional athletes failing to place their hand over their heart during the playing of the anthem. In a matter of a couple of minutes, I was able to find pictures of US Men’s Basketball team members including Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Draymond Green in line prior to an NBA game with their respective teams with their hands either at their side or behind their back. We cannot criticize Douglas while at the same time giving others a pass. Douglas has also been criticized for not being supportive enough of her teammates earning the nickname Crabby Gabby on social media as well as something as petty as the way she does her hair. In a related situation, the now two-time Pentathlon Gold medalist Ashton Eaton received criticism online for wearing a Team Canada hat. The reason for the hat being that Eaton’s wife Brianne Theisen-Eaton is a track and field athlete on the Canadian National team. The same fans that were quick to celebrate US athletes winning medals were just as quick to defame and devalue those athletes that did not fit their image of what an American athlete should be. Although we have made it out to be such, at its core the Olympics are not about which country takes home the most medals. It is a way to unite the world that we live in through sport.
In the case of Ryan Lochte or “Lochte Gate” as it is becoming known, you have the case of a prominent US Athlete embarrassing the United States on a global stage and showing little to no remorse for his actions. In the early hours of August 14th, reports came in that Ryan Lochte along with teammates Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger, and Gunnar Bentz were robbed at gunpoint outside of a Rio gas station returning from a party in the city. Although International Olympic Committee immediately denied the claims which were made out by many to seem like nothing more than an attempt by the IOC to cover after months of reporting on the safety of the games from everything the Zika virus to the prevalence of street crimes to seemingly unfit living quarters for the athletes. Less than a week after further investigating discrepancies in the swimmers’ stories video has emerged that not only were Lochte and company not only were not victims of a crime, but they were perpetrators of one as video evidence showed the four vandalizing the gas station in question. The brash 32-year-old stood before American and foreign press alike and recounted a fabricated story in which a gun was held to his head as if it was Gospel truth. It appears that Lochte was only holding onto that version of the story as long as he had to. When the Brazilian authorities ordered the swimmers stay in the country for more questioning he was already gone. With swimming events over he had already returned to the United States, while Bentz and Conger were taken off of a plane and made to stay for more questioning. News outlets have reported that Feigen will be donating nearly $11,000 to a Brazilian charity in lieu of prosecution for falsifying a police report. When the United States Olympic Committee has issued an apology for these athletes behavior, Lochte seemingly doubled down, going to social media the day before the release of the security footage giving retweets to people endorsing his version of the truth. He later gave a halfhearted apology via his Instagram account where he received support from many without going into detail about what had actually happened on the night in question. Lochte tonight did an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer in which he stated that he over exaggerated the story.
To make matters worse, unless he returns to the country via his own free will it is unlikely that Lochte will ever see the consequences of his actions. Although the United States and Brazil have an extradition treaty in place falsifying a police report only carries up to a six-month sentence, half of the required time needed for extradition. Even if the Brazilian government can put together enough for extradition it would be in the hands of the United States over whether or not to actually send him back. As it stands today the general public’s outrage has been minimal; with many people saying that those involved were kids who had made a mistake. All of this in spite of all three of the other swimmers involved saying the fabricated story was Lochte’s doing. It is unknown at this time what if anything punishment that either the USOC or USA Swimming will hand down to these four athletes.
Why did we attack one of our fellow American’s for such petty things such as the way that they were while we showed support to another in the wake of lying after committing a crime? It could be, as many suggest, a racial issue. It could be an issue where we are more willing to forgive Lochte because he has won more medals. It could be any combination of these or a multitude of other reasons but one thing is for sure; this shows that our priorities are incredibly out of whack.
