USA Today is reporting that an announcement will be released tomorrow saying Ryan Lochte has been suspended for 10 months by the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and USA Swimming, following the Rio gas station incident.
USA Today is also reporting that Lochte will be banned from the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on July 14th through the 30th.
USA Today’s source, a “person with knowledge of the situation,” spoke anonymously, but the decision is supposed to be announced publicly tomorrow.
The other three swimmers, Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz, and Jack Conger, will reportedly also face a suspension that will be announced tomorrow, but their suspension lengths will be shorter, according to the site.
This will be the first we have heard from USA Swimming and the US Olympic Committee on the incident since much earlier in the case (see the original USA Swimming statement here and the USOC statement here).
Since the truth has come to light about the Rio incident, Lochte’s sponsorships have been dropped by Speedo, Ralph Lauren, and Airweave as a result of the debacle.
I can’t believe nobody is mentioning the fact that taking him out the world champs kills his 200 im streak. He can no longer defend that steak because of being robbed at a gas station while drunk and while still drunk exagerating the truth a little. I am cancelling my uss membership today.
That has already been mentioned.
Not a big deal for him. I really think he needed to take a break if he wanted to be a force in 2020. So if he’s smart he should take the opportunity of his suspension to leave the pools and not think anymore about swimming. Same opinion about Missy who needs to refresh mentally and physically 1 or 2 years to come back stronger in 2018 or 2019.
anyway did the IOC follow up the arrests of the robbers who attacked athletes in Rio? oh no we’re busy being PC and covering our big floppy administrative behinds
I knew parents & grandparents who travelled to Brazil for a world junior FINA event .They were robbed of their credit cards passports & money .They immediately notified the liason officer who notified the police . 2 young ppl were tracked down & a meeting was arranged between the robbers & the victims . Everything was handed back minus some of the money . With the blessings of the victims no charges were laid . They wrote an apology & one of the grandparents ( who was once a poor Greek peasant ) bought them a present .
Many countries work like this .It is not all aggro & hate . Brazilians are not monsters . As for crime –… Read more »
“Brazil is the murder capital of the world, but Rio is safer than Compton.” http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/01/29/months-before-rio-olympics-murder-rate-rises-in-brazil/&refURL=https://www.google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/
I believe your story, and I have some beachfront in Ohio to sell you.
Lame & hateful.
90 days would have been enough penalty for being drunk and stupid. 10 months is way too much in my mind. The fact that there was a language barrier probably made it a lot worse than it should have been. I lived in Brazil, some of the locals “ain’t too bright” and that is putting it mildly.
If this had happened in an English speaking country, it might have not even made the local nightly news.
In the end, Lochte is more famous than ever and will likely profit from it over time. It is kind of funny in a twisted way. JMHO.
Leave the other three alone……………..
I’m not sure Conger and Bentz deserve a suspension… Feigen maybe, but Conger and Bentz were honest and didn’t get too caught up in the whole thing.
My guess is it’s just a token slap on the wrist for those two for breaking curfew and/or peeing on the wall.
We also don’t know if they omitted key details to the U.S. officials or coaches. Obviously, if they had tattled right away, someone could have gotten Lochte to come clean immediately.
I think this in some ways might be good for him so he could possibly take more time off
This is sarcasm right?
Lochte should get six months max. The more this story has evolved, the more im on his side. All he really did was pull a poster down and then got held up at gun point. Bentz and Conger shouldnt get anything (WAPO is reporting 4 months). Fiegen already paid a hefty fine for a pro swimmer of his level…that should be enough.
Everyone on this forum, go drink 6 beers and then tell the story of that one time in college, at that one place, with those one guys, where you did something stupid and we’ll all sound exactly like Ryan Lochte.
Michael Phelps two DUI’s tons of sponsors American hero after rio and 6 month suspension given an invite to world champs . Ryan Lochte no DUI’s villanized loses sponsors and banned for 10 months for vandalism worth 20 bucks, no world championships.
Why do you think that is? I think it has to do with Lochte being in Rio on USA Swimming business, one their behalf, not in a casino in Baltimore on one’s free time. I also think this has to do with contrition and honesty: Phelps took swift action, Lochte deflected responsibility, and extended his mistruths. Most importantly, I think, is that Lochte’s complete lack of team-unity and support. He abandoned his team ethics completely, and left three other swimmers to deal with the fallout of his embarrassing public lies. On that last point, I really don’t think you can level the same charge to Michael Phelps in any shape or form.
What wbout Phelps responsibility as the face of swimming? When I hear swimming I think Phelps when I hear USA Swimming Phelps is screaming in my head, and this is the first time Lochte has done anything he shouldn’t have, at least as far as the public knows, Phelps got two DUI’s as sinker who’s family members have been killed by drunk drivers in my mind a DUI is worse than a lie with some truth
I couldn’t agree more, Uber, with your last lines. I totally think drinking and driving is worse than lying, certainly more lethal. But we must compare like with like: no-one was hurt in either case. We wouldn’t be having this discussion if Phelps had killed anyone or if Lochte escalated the situation until one of the guard’s gun went off–we’d know what was worse. But we don’t base law and punishment on speculation and hypotheticals.
Above were my answers to why I think the punishments of Lochte and Phelps were rendered differently.
HE DIDN’T ABANDONED HIS TEAMMATES.
He just traveled home because the Olys were over for him. It’s not Ryan’s fault if the other 3 guys stayed in Rio more days.
Three specific swimmers and the US Team were forced to answer for his mistruths. How is that not his fault?
In the absolute moral standard, Phelps lied so many times including his issue with alcohol. Everyone was a bit easy on him for his sentence (even in the judiciary system). I am happy for him to take the steps to go to rehab and seemed to come out better. But again, Phelps and even his family and Bowman lied about and for him since even before London Olympic and way more so in the lead up to the 2nd DUI. With that said, I am also some what skeptical about what Phelps and Phelps’s family said without seeing his action and outcome. Phelps and his team know how to keep public image or create one really well. At the end… Read more »
It’s often the coverup that brings down the hammer, rather than the drunken incident. That and the fact he was on “official” business down there. He made a fool out himself, the others with him, his sponsors and the team.
Big Time, agreed.
Ryan gets 10 Months and USA Swimming golden boy Michael Phelps and face of swimming receives a 6 months ban not for his 1st DUI but his 2nd DUI! This will get appealed but Ryan Lochte and his team. I could easily see this getting reduced….
They should of banned him for 3 months and excluded him the 2017 World Championships