Gold medal-winning U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte apologized to Brazil on Saturday night (August 20th) for what he described as exaggerating his story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio, saying,
“I’m sorry. Brazil doesn’t deserve that.”
But he insisted during the interview on Globo TV, which is the country’s largest broadcaster, that he didn’t lie, saying he was a victim of extortion because he and the three other U.S. swimmers he was with were forced by armed guards to hand over money after what police described as their vandalizing of a gas station. He said,
“I wasn’t lying to a certain extent. I over-exaggerated what was happening to me.”
Source: Matt Hazlett / Getty
NBC also aired an interview with Lochte on Saturday night in which he said he was taking responsibility for what happened, blaming in on his, quote, “immaturity,” and apologized as well to the teammates who’d been with him.
You can watch part of the interview with TODAY Show’s Matt Lauer in the video above.
