Every four summers we are entertained by the excitement of competition throughout the weeks of the Olympic games. This year in Rio, something else outside of the playing field caught the attention of people all over the globe.
Just a day after Ryan Lochte's swimming career supposedly came to an end, he came out with a startling confession. The claim was that he and three other US swimmers were approached by men with police badges and ordered them to get down on the ground. When Lochte said that he refused at first, one man held a gun to his head and proceeded to rob all of the swimmers' wallets and personal belongings.
So at first, it all seemed pretty believable. Who would think that the Olympic figure would make this up in front of the whole world?
It turns out that his story was fabricated when videos surfaced through the media showing that no guns were drawn and the swimmers actually brought the conflict upon themselves when they were vandalizing a bathroom and causing a scene.
It also came to the media's attention that they were under the influence, and were the ones who caused any sort of problems that night in Rio. The swimmers were partying and ended up in a fight with a security guard and ended up breaking down a bathroom door. So this whole story from Lochte seemed to have been a cover-up.
As for the other swimmers, we haven't heard much from them at all. They most likely were under the lead of Lochte who is the oldest and most known US swimmer of the group. The other men were Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz, and James Feigen.
Two of the swimmers were removed from their flight back to the US, while one was still in Rio, and Lochte coincidentally made his way back to the states in the midst of this conflict. He may have shown his cards too early by leaving on such short notice after the crazy story he told.
This all comes down to a cowardly act by Lochte in telling a very fabricated story for sure, but what about the other swimmers? Yes, Lochte is the center of attention in this debacle and that may be because he's the most known or because he's the oldest one but what should we say about the other guys?
We don't know for sure if Lochte was the whole root of the problem but the other swimmers should also be held responsible for being a part of this mess and going along with the skit that was put on.
This whole situation looks bad on America because not only was it Olympic figures that caused a scene but it was the lying and the lack of responsibility in another country that makes it even worse.
As far as the media goes, they have hounded Lochte for his actions and made everyone aware of it so that may be enough consequence for him considering it has shattered a lot of his reputation. But he still has to face the law side of the incident, so who knows how much trouble he and the other swimmers have dug themselves into. But we sure can all ask ourselves that if the media wasn't where it was right now in this day and age, would anyone have even heard about it?
