--- title: Lochte on Rio Robbery: 'I Overexaggerated That Story' description: The swimmer behind the report of a false robbery in Rio explained his behavior to Matt Lauer canonical: https://time.com/4460401/ryan-lochte-on-rio-robbery-i-over-exaggerated-that-story/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-20T23:20:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-15T20:49:20.000Z article:section: Sports og:title: Ryan Lochte on Rio Robbery: 'I Overexaggerated That Story' og:description: The swimmer explained his behavior to Matt Lauer og:url: https://time.com/4460401/ryan-lochte-on-rio-robbery-i-over-exaggerated-that-story/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt022cfcd21b575436/6988a31797cdff46a96ad838/ryan-lochte5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Around the Games - Olympics: Day 7 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ryan Lochte on Rio Robbery: 'I Overexaggerated That Story' twitter:description: The swimmer explained his behavior to Matt Lauer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt022cfcd21b575436/6988a31797cdff46a96ad838/ryan-lochte5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ryan Lochte on Rio Robbery: 'I Overexaggerated That Story' > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Alice Park / Rio de Janeiro](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park / Rio de Janeiro Senior Correspondent Updated: Jan 15, 2026 8:49 PM UTCPublished: Aug 20, 2016 11:20 PM UTC  Ryan Lochte of the United States attends a press conference in the Main Press Center on Day 7 of the Rio Olympics on August 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ryan Lochte of the United States attends a press conference in the Main Press Center on Day 7 of the Rio Olympics on August 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Matt Hazlett;Getty Images  by [Alice Park / Rio de Janeiro](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park / Rio de Janeiro Senior Correspondent Updated: Jan 15, 2026 8:49 PM UTCPublished: Aug 20, 2016 11:20 PM UTC In his first interview since it was revealed that [his story about being held at gunpoint in Rio was untrue](http://time.com/4458405/ryan-lochte-rio-robbery-olympics/), Ryan Lochte said he “overexaggerated that story.” “If I had never done that, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Lochte told Matt Lauer in an interview that [aired on NBC](http://www.today.com/news/matt-lauer-s-exclusive-interview-ryan-lochte-air-monday-today-t102063) on Saturday. “None of this would have happened.” While [Lochte](http://time.com/4457612/thanks-lochte-this-had-been-a-pretty-great-olympics/) admitted that he inflated the [robbery story](http://time.com/4459109/ryan-lochte-apologies-rio-robbery/), he remained adamant that he had been out of sorts after a gun was pointed at him and three other American swimmers — Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen. Pressed by Lauer to acknowledge that he was not a victim of a robbery, as he had initially and insistently claimed, Lochte said, “It’s how you want to make it look like. Whether you call it robbery, whether you call it extortion or us paying just for damages — we don’t know. All we know was a gun was pointed our direction and we were demanded to give money.” Originally, Lochte told NBC’s Billy Bush that he and the three swimmers were in a taxi headed back to the Olympic Village from a party at France House when they were pulled over by thieves impersonating police, who pulled guns and demanded they get on the ground and relinquish their money. That version of events soon unraveled, and on Saturday, Conger offered another version of events. In [a statement](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/statement-from-gold-medal-olympic-swimmer-jack-conger-300316139.html), Conger said that the group pulled into a gas station in order to use the restroom. Instead, they ended up relieving themselves against a wall, and [Lochte](http://time.com/4458466/ryan-lochte-rio-robbery-gas-station/) damaged a sign, Conger wrote. When confronted by armed security to pay for the damage, the group offered $20 in U.S. currency and about $33 in Brazilian reais. “We just wanted to get out of there,” Lochte said in the interview with Lauer. “There was a gun pointed in our direction and we were all frightened. We just wanted to get out of there as quick\[ly\] as possible. The only way we knew was this guy was saying you have to give money. We gave money and we got out.” While he said, “I’m taking full responsibility” and admitted that “I definitely had too much to drink that night,” Lochte stopped short of fully explaining why he fabricated the story about being randomly targeted and held up at gunpoint. That remains a glaring omission in this strange tale, which has been seen as a slap in the face in a country sensitive about its reputation for crime and proud of its general ability to keep it at bay during the Olympics. Lochte’s antics and misleading attempts to explain it also detracted attention from the achievements of his fellow Olympians, particularly the U.S. swimming team’s extraordinarily strong run in Rio. He expressed contrition, but stopped short of full culpability. In a statement posted earlier on Twitter and again in his NBC interview, Lochte apologized for that distraction. “They put on a great Games,” he said. “My immature, intoxicated behavior tarnished that a little.” To his fellow athletes, he said, “I took away from their accomplishments, and that’s what I think hurts me the most.” More of the interview will air on NBC’s _Today_ show on Monday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4460401/ryan-lochte-on-rio-robbery-i-over-exaggerated-that-story/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4460401/ryan-lochte-on-rio-robbery-i-over-exaggerated-that-story/"},"headline":"Ryan Lochte on Rio Robbery: 'I Overexaggerated That Story'","datePublished":"2016-08-20T23:20:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-15T20:49:20.000Z","description":"The swimmer explained his behavior to Matt Lauer","url":"https://time.com/4460401/ryan-lochte-on-rio-robbery-i-over-exaggerated-that-story/","keywords":["olympics","Summer Olympics","Ryan Lochte","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt022cfcd21b575436/6988a31797cdff46a96ad838/ryan-lochte5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park / Rio de Janeiro"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt022cfcd21b575436/6988a31797cdff46a96ad838/ryan-lochte5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Around the Games - Olympics: Day 7","caption":"Around the Games - Olympics: Day 7","creditText":"Matt Hazlett;Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/olympics/","name":"olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4460401/ryan-lochte-on-rio-robbery-i-over-exaggerated-that-story/","name":"Ryan Lochte on Rio Robbery: 'I Overexaggerated That Story'"}}]}] ```