Ryan Lochte is widely considered the greatest competitive swimmer of all time. He is a four-time Olympian and a 12-time Olympic medalist, including six gold medals. He is also known for his famous rivalry with Michael Phelps, particularly in the individual medley events. Despite his impressive career, Ryan Lochte will always be defined by the events of that fateful night in Rio de Janeiro.
The Initial Account of the Incident
It was the morning of August 14, 2016, when Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz, and Jack Conger were robbed during the 2016 Summer Olympics. A group of armed men showed flased a "police badge" to the Olympians and forced them out of their taxi at gunpoint in the early morning hours. The story made headlines that same day after a chance encounter between Lochte's mother and Fox Sports Australia broadcaster Ben Way. Way tweeted that "Ryan Lochte has been held up at gunpoint." This resulted in an immediate denial from International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams that the report was false.
The next day, during an interview with Billy Bush on the Today Show, Lochte further claimed that one of the armed men cocked his gun and put it up against his forehead. Rio Olympics spokesman Mario Andrada responded, "We regret that the violence has gotten so close to the athletes."
Investigation and Conflicting Accounts
On August 17, police went to the Olympic Village to secure Lochte and Feigen's passports to obtain further testimony from the athletes. A judge also issued a search and seizure warrant. However, Lochte had already returned to the United States two days prior.
Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro concluded that the athletes were not robbed. Instead, they had been involved in an incident at a gas station. According to statements provided by the owner on August 18, the swimmers broke a soap dispenser, damaged a door, tore down a sign, and urinated around the premises. Investigators found that the swimmers stopped at a gas station near Casa França, where security guards detained the swimmers for vandalism perpetrated in a bathroom while intoxicated. Police chief Fernando Veloso said the swimmers handed over 100 reais ($31) and $20 in U.S. currency as compensation for the damage.
Based on anonymous police sources, Conger and Bentz first told the police that Lochte's story was fabricated. Moreover, the Associated Press reported that Conger and Bentz "refuted Lochte's claim that the group was held up by armed assailants". Bentz acknowledged that two guns were drawn, but they were not pointed at the swimmers. However, upon his return to America on the morning of August 18, Feigen reiterated his original claim that they were robbed at gunpoint in an interview.
The Fallout
The next day, Lochte hired a public relations consultant and apologized on Instagram. On August 25, Lochte was charged with falsely reporting a crime, with a conviction possibly resulting in one to six months in jail. The following day, Lochte's lawyer said there would be no response to the charges, meaning Lochte could be tried in absentia.
Ryan Lochte appeared on TV on August 20, during which he continued to downplay the premises of the situation. While he did apologize for his "immature" behavior, many found it to be lacking. He later admitted that he was drunk and his original claims were "over-exaggerated."
The following week, Lochte made an appearance on Good Morning America, during which he further admitted that his claim of being held up at gunpoint was a "very big mistake," but thought that everyone was blowing the scandal out of proportion.
Meanwhile, Feigen issued a statement on August 24, after he was able to leave Brazil, stating, "I would like to apologize for the serious distractions from the Olympics...In this statement, I omitted the facts that we urinated behind the building and that Ryan Lochte pulled a poster off the wall. This statement was written by the officers in Portuguese, and I was then asked to sign the statement without seeing it translated into English. I realize that I made a mistake by omitting these facts. I was trying to protect my teammates, and for this I apologize."
The Aftermath
The story and the multiple conflicting versions dominated Olympic headlines and became an international scandal. The scandal drew mockery on social media, with #Lochtegate becoming a trending topic on Twitter. In Brazil, the scandal angered many Brazilians who felt it cast a false narrative on their city. Leading up to the Olympics, there were concerns that Rio was unsafe to host the Olympics. Plus, this was the first time in the history of the Olympics that games would take place in South America. To have a high-profile athlete claim that he was robbed at gunpoint, only to be proven false, took a lot of attention away from the games and turned it into a manufactured scandal, which was otherwise a successful Olympics.
The scandal wouldn't just tarnish their public reputation; it would also affect their careers. During the height of the scandal, U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun apologized for the incident. On August 19, the International Olympic Committee established a disciplinary commission for the four swimmers to investigate the situation and possibly impose sanctions on the athletes.
On September 8, both the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Swimming suspended Lochte for 10 months and Bentz, Conger, and Feigen for four months. Lochte was also required to complete 20 hours of community service, and Bentz was required to complete 10 hours. Additionally, all were ineligible for financial support during the suspensions, removed from the U.S. Olympic delegation to the White House, barred from U.S. Olympic training centers, and banned from attending USA Swimming's year-end Golden Goggles Celebration.
Conclusion
In 2021, after failing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, he retired from competitive swimming. In 2026, he is an assistant coach for the Missouri State University swimming team. Jimmy Feigen retired from competitive swimming and is now practicing law. Gunnar Bentz continued swimming after Rio and made the Tokyo Olympic team, and later retired but still remains involved in USA Swimming. As of 2026, he works in the data-center industry and was elected to the USA Swimming Board of Directors. Jack Conger also remained in competitive swimming after Rio, but failed to make the Olympic team for Tokyo. Today, he works in medical sales and occasionally hosts swimming clinics.
I remember when this scandal happened; I already found Ryan Lochte to be an incredibly annoying person. At one point, he had his own reality TV show and tried to trademark his catchphrase, "Jeah," which only he said. So, I felt justified in my hate during the scandal. Regardless of my justification, I think it's so stupid that they got themselves into this avoidable situation. I do find it interesting that after 2012, Ryan Lochte was trying so hard to expand his brand beyond being a world athlete and tried to market himself in Hollywood. By 2016, however, the celebrity machine he had been building collapsed alongside his reputation after the Rio controversy. A decade later, Lochte has largely stepped away from the spotlight; whether intentionally or not, he is no longer trying to make it into Hollywood. I don't know if 2016 changed him, but I do know that I do find him less annoying.
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