Ryan Lochte is losing all his endorsements after he admitted to making up a story about being robbed at gunpoint while at the 2016 Olympics.
Let’s get a reminder of how he went down. On the morning of August 14, 2016, Ryan Lochteand Jimmy Feigen claimed that they and teammates Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were robbed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the 2016 Summer Olympics after armed men showing a “police badge” allegedly forced them out of their taxi at gunpoint in the early morning hours.The story was initially publicized that day after a chance encounter between Lochte’s mother, Ileana Lochte, and Fox Sports Australia presenter Ben Way. Way tweeted that “Ryan Lochte has been held up at gunpoint,” which resulted in a prompt denial from International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams that the report was “absolutely not true.” The next day, Lochte claimed in an interview with Billy Bush on the Today Show that the men who stopped their taxi had a police badge, and that one of the men cocked his gun and put it up against Lochte’s forehead. Rio Olympics spokesman Mario Andrada stated, “We regret the violence has got so close to the athletes.”
The Lochtegate is the colloquial name of the scandal involving United States swim team members Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz, and Jack Conger during the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While initial news stories reported that Lochte and three other US swimmers had been robbed at gunpoint after a night out in Rio, later details emerged that the “armed robbers posing as police” were actually security guards at a gas station where the swimmers had urinated outside the bathroom and Lochte allegedly vandalized a framed poster, and ended with the swimmers providing money to the guards. Some of the swimmers were detained in Brazil as witnesses. Ultimately, the athletes each released statements, and one swimmer paid a fine of approximately $10,800 to a Brazilian charity in order to get his passport back. Lochte apologized for not being more candid about the gas station dispute, and subsequently lost four major sponsorshipsSpeedo USA and Japanese mattress maker Airweave said Monday that they were ending their partnership with the embattled U.S. swimmer. Ralph Lauren also said it would not renew his contract.
A subsidiary of U.K.-based Pentland Brands Limited, Speedo announced it would donate a $50,000 portion of Lochte’s pay to a charity that works with poor children in Brazil. Lochte, 32, had been with the company for over a decade. Speedo also sponsors USA Swimming.
“We cannot condone behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for,” Speedo said in a statement. “We appreciate his many achievements and hope he moves forward and learns from this experience.”