Ryan Lochte will reportedly be suspended for 10 months following the gas station robbery scandal in Rio in August, USA Today and TMZ report. According to the paper, the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Swimming are set to make a joint statement on Thursday, September 8, revealing the Olympic athlete’s punishment.
A source told USA Today that Lochte’s teammates — Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen, who were all with the celebrated swimmer the night of the incident — will also be suspended, but that Lochte’s suspension will be the longest.
As previously reported by Us Weekly, Lochte, who is a 12-time medalist, claimed that he and his teammates were robbed and held at gunpoint at a Rio gas station after a night of partying during the Summer Olympics on Sunday, August 14. Rio police chief Fernando Veloso later denied that the swimmers were robbed and stated that the athletes instead had vandalized the gas station’s bathroom.
Lochte, 32, issued an apology via Instagram on August 19 for his behavior in Rio, stating that he wanted to apologize for “not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning and for my role in taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics.”
He also apologized during an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer that aired on August 22 for his “immature, intoxicated behavior” and for tarnishing the games.
Lochte has since maintained that he didn’t vandalize the bathroom. He did, however, admit to pulling down a poster and exaggerating the story.
“It was locked, so we couldn’t go in there at all. So the story about me vandalizing the bathroom is absurd and never happened,” he said during an interview with Good Morning America on August 30. “The thing that I told that wasn’t true was having the gun pointed to my forehead and cocked. That was — that was overexaggerated.”
Lochte also stated during his interview with GMA that he takes full responsibility for his teammates and that he’ll repay Jimmy Feigen, who paid $11,000 to a Brazilian charity so he could return to the United States.
Lochte lost a bevy of his sponsors but is set to compete on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars. He also inked a deal with Pine Bros. cough drops.
TMZ was first to report the news.
Us Weekly has reached out to the USOC and Lochte’s rep for comment. Dancing With the Stars season 23 premieres on ABC on Monday, September 12, at 8 p.m. ET.
Christina Garibaldi and Ian Drew discussed all the latest during Us Weekly‘s Facebook Live News Update. Check it out!