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SPEEDO USA HAS announced it has ended its sponsorship of embattled star Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte following his false claim that he had been robbed at gunpoint in Rio, a story he later admitted was “over-exaggerated”.
The global swimwear brand will donate $50,000 (about €44,000) of Lochte’s fees to Save the Children, to go towards helping Brazilian children.
“Speedo USA today announces the decision to end its sponsorship of Ryan Lochte,” the company said in a statement.
“While we have enjoyed a winning relationship with Ryan for over a decade and he has been an important member of the Speedo team, we cannot condone behaviour that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for.
“We appreciate his many achievements and hope he moves forward and learns from this experience,” the company said of Lochte, who has won a total of 12 medals in Olympic competition during his career, six of them gold.
Lochte, 32, claimed he and three of his teammates — all gold medal winners in Rio — were mugged by robbers pretending to be police after a night out.
But he quickly found himself embroiled in controversy when police said his account was untrue, and that the group had in fact been detained over the vandalisation of a gas station bathroom — apparently led by a drunken Lochte.
Lochte later admitted he had “left details out” and “over-exaggerated some parts of the story” — a major embarrassment for Team USA, an Olympic swimming powerhouse.
He also admitted he was still intoxicated when he gave his initial account of the incident, adding: “I let my team down.”
CCTV footage
Following the incident, Lochte flew back to the United States, while the other three swimmers — Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen — stayed in Brazil.
On Thursday, police released CCTV footage and other evidence about the events at the gas station.
The athletes, who appeared intoxicated, stopped in a taxi at the gas station to use the bathroom during the early hours of the morning.
Lochte and the others then vandalised the area near the bathroom and, according to the manager, urinated on the walls.
Confronted by a security guard, they tried to leave. When the confrontation escalated, the security guard took out his pistol and made them sit on the ground.
After paying about $50 (€44) in compensation for the damage to the station, they left unharmed and returned to the athletes’ village.
“There was no robbery of the kind reported by the athletes,” the head of Rio’s civil police, Fernando Veloso, told a press conference.
Lochte’s false claims caused the Olympic authorities huge embarrassment, highlighting security worries at the games, where Brazil had deployed 85,000 police and soldiers — double the number used at the 2012 London games.
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Liar liar speedo’s on fire
Speed do’h
The neverending hangover
Poor Ryan, but I bet his family got tickets to go see him, unlike the Irish….. Were are our politicians?? In most other countries there is widespread condemnation….. Maybe here, they are hoping the Brazilians do not look any deeper….
It’s starting to look even murkier now. I would have been really disappointed as a family member if I couldn’t get a ticket only to discover 800 had turned up in some fellas safe in rio!!
And not any old fella, the head of the Irish Olympic movement. The whole thing is a joke
@Hoofedup, our Sports minister was sent out to Brazil to talk to PH before he got arrested and was met with arrogance and obstinance. The govt have announced an inquiry but they have clearly stated that they must wait until Brazilian justice takes its course. Personally I’d agree with that. No point in having our politico’s shouting the odds until they see what evidence the Brazilians uncover, starting with tomorrow’s court appearance for PH.
Wearing speedos is a crime in itself.
didn`t you say you were wearing them doing your garden the other day Luke?
That might have just been a dream you had. You need to separate fantasy from reality
No, I said I was wearing them cutting the front hedge! The guards were called.
Well he’s hardly going to be competing in his dressing gown .
wearing speedos is far more offensive than urinating on a gas station wall, i agree wholeheartedly
Let’s comment here about pat hickey and from now on let’s comment on the next article about articles they won’t let us comment on
Yeah!
That’ll show em’
funnily enough, the Spindependent had comments open on a hickey related story this morning.
What is the point of them, the accommodation is sorted out for athletes automatically, all they had to do was buy plane tickets and sort out family & friend’s tickets, surely one person could have organised the tickets, a form to each athlete for a list of people so you have an idea beforehand, pick a hotel reception area somewhere near the village to give em out vs the list made earlier. Doesn’t seem like rocket science to me, it’s not like we were the US or something with someone competing in every single event. The one time in a four year period they have to do something. Could you factcheck if any of these officials had to put their hand in their pocket for anything or did it all go on the boys club credit cards.
€1,200 for first class flights and €900 per day spending money. Absolutely outrageous display of arrogance.
I thought the whole thing was quite funny, I love a good drunken mortification episode, good antidote to the dreary worthiness of the Olympics!
I heard he is creating his own new brand now. Spazmo.
Next headline ”Ryan drops speedos”
We don’t behave like Speedo, we keep giving millions to corrupt(dishonest) people like Hickey and Delaney. Only in Ireland would you be admired for being a person like Hickey or Delany.
‘we cannot condone behaviour that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for.’
Speedo, bastion of ‘values’. Uses sweatshops.
Was he done for budgie smuggling
I suppose it makes a change from him dropping his speedos.
Oh dear, his lunch box is not as well packed as speedo thought? Must have had CCTV in the jax and they got less than an eye full.
Good!
The guy from speedo who made that decision must be Mr Perfect.Ryan Locte has been an example to everyone for 12 years winning medal after medal for his country.He had a bad olympics in Rio,got drunk nd made a bad mistake but 1 mistake rules out 12 years of medals for ure Country.Shame on Speedo.I for one can’t wait to see Ryan back in the pool.
A very good move indeed!!! Sense of entitlement taken too far!!!
Hunk
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