USA’s Ryan Lochte competes in a Men’s 200m Individual Medley heat during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 10, 2016. AFP PHOTO / Odd Andersen
Bad boy US swimmer Ryan Lochte made his apologies directly to the Brazilian public for his invented Olympic story on Sunday, calling himself “immature” in an interview with Globo TV.
“I am sorry, it won’t happen again,” the 32-year-old Lochte, with the peroxide color taken out of his hair, said in the interview.
Lochte — the winner of six Olympic gold medals — and three other top US swimmers sparked a controversy by falsely saying they had been robbed at gunpoint at a Rio gas station while attending the Olympics.
“It was my fault,” Lochte, who has also made a mea culpa on US television, told Globo. “I was immature.”
According to Brazilian police, the four invented their story after a security guard caught them vandalizing a bathroom.
Lochte said he had torn down a poster in the gas station and as in his comments to US television added: “To a certain extent I over-exaggerated.”/rga