It’s fine to disagree, @carolinamom2boys, but I see the payment as avoiding charges for false testimony not to get his passport back.
It’s not like the 3 remaining in the country were in some jail cell out of Midnight Express or anything. They had legal representation and I’m sure USOC, the US State Department and other resources were advising and counseling them as to what was appropriate and reasonable. Even the Civil Police Chief stated to the press that it wasn’t the incident itself and things would have been fine if the foursome had simply said, you know, we were drunk and messed up. But they fabricated a story and gave false testimony.
On a more humorous note related to all this, I had to chuckle upon seeing today’s headline of the NY Daily News calling him “The Lochte Mess Monster”.
4x100 relay, wow! U.S disqualified and Canada moves up to get the bronze. What I don’t understand is why the Japanese were not also DQ’d. One of their runners stepped on the line twice. All of that, and Bolt is amazing. Just amazing. Triple triple!
It’s my understanding @doschicos that their representation was not present at all times , especially when they were removed from the plane. And you’re right that it’s OK to disagree . I still believe that more will come out in the future. It wouldn’t be the first time when counsel advised their client to say what was needed to be said for their best interest. It doesn’t mean that everything happened as it was reported. I also think based on video footage drawing a gun was excessive. If that would’ve happened here under similar circumstances , there would be all kinds of protests. JMO
Bolt is an amazing runner. He looks as if he’s just loping along while the other runners are moving as fast as they can -but somehow Bolt just opens up space between himself and the rest of the field. Has he ever truly run as fast as he really can?
Bolt seems to actually slow down right before the finish line. He talked yesterday about not having anyone pushing him. It would be interesting to see how he would do if really challenged. That man is a cool as a cucumber.
Bolt said last night that he wished he had run faster. I’m sure he wanted to break the (his) record. He said he’s getting old. He’s also been injured this year. I think these factors just make his accomplishments even more impressive.
http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/081916aac.html
Here’s the statement from Gunnar Bentz, one of the swimmers detained n the Lochte mess. He states that there wasn’t any damage to the restroom door or the inside of the restroom itself. It sounds like a pretty honest account of what transpired but who knows?
The issue isn’t the extent of the property damage though. The issue is that they gave tv interviews in which they misrepresented, amd blamed the Brazilians. As usual, it’s the cover up not the crime.
At 1:40 in this video, you can see them exiting their taxi and one guy is taking money out of his wallet and giving it to a person just off camera, and the guy behind him is holding his hands up. Lochte gets out of the other side of the car. Too bad we can’t see the alleged security guard with the alleged gun.
ETA - also too bad about the mysterious 3 minute gap in the video before they get out of the car.
So one of them really did pay 10 grand. OK 4 guys stopped for gas and there was malicious destruction of property and then an armed guard at the gas station pointed a gun and took their money (or is that a lie part?) and the Brazilian government demanded ten grand for a fine because they lied about the malicious destruction of property…but did the guard with the gun still rob them or did the guard not rob them or was that part of the lie also and the reason for the 10 grand fine?
Apparently, under Brazilian law a donation can be made to avoid criminal prosecution for minor offenses. His lawyer reached an agreement with a Brazilian judge that $10,800 would be paid to a Brazilian charity.
An article I read said that Bentz and Conger confirmed that they were not held at gunpoint and that the money turned over was offered by Lochte to pay for the damage they caused. They paid for the damage and then left the gas station.
I have a question about running. In sports like swimming, they make every effort to reduce drag and become aerodynamic. In track, although they wear skin tight tops and shorts, there are a lot of things that don’t seem so areo to me - the bibs are not tight on their tops, there are little numbers on their shorts in the relays, and the HAIR! Some of them, especially the women, have great gobs of hair that isn’t always tied back. Does it not matter? I’d think those paper bib names/numbers would be annoying and scratchy to run in.
When Flojo was running, she would wear a hood for the “real” races most of the time but let her glorious hair fly free during the heats and trials.
I remember a European athlete who excelled at the triple jump and came close to the breaking the world record and the announcers would say, “if he just cut his hair he would break that record”, lol.
@PrimeMeridian I am not applying American standards to a country that has history of corruption . That was my point exactly. It’s extreme . There has been video shown on NBC that shows all four swimmers on the ground with their hands up approached by a security guard with a weapon drawn. I’m not saying that he robbed them or that they weren’t involved in some vandalism . I’m saying that the matter in which it was handled was extreme . There was a reported language barrier and quite a bit of confusion regarding the incident . I realize that when one travels, that one is subject to the laws that are in place in that country and that those laws are very different than US laws. I also believe knowing that, some people may be inclined to say whatever they need to to safely return to the US. There have been other posts on CC in the recent past involving vandalism in a foreign country, and the ill treatment of a young US student , and people were quick to defend him despite video evidence where he clearly was performing the vandalism . I’m not sure why he was so easily absolved. JMO.
Despite Lochte, the Olympics are still made up of great moments! The US women 4 x 100, just wow! British diver Tom Daley is perfection. And this superhuman display of sportsmanship by two young women who didn’t even know each other:
