Ryan Lochte to join latest 'Dancing with the Stars' cast
Ryan Lochte is going on Dancing with the Stars, locking down a deal in the works before his Olympic saga, a person familiar with the deal confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday.
The 23rd season of the show premieres on Sept. 12. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the addition of Lochte has not been announced publicly.
Lochte, the 12-time Olympic medalist who was condemned in media reports around the globe for exaggerating a true story, was dropped by four sponsors on Monday after authorities in Rio de Janeiro declared in a jammed press conference last week that he had fabricated a report that he and three teammates on the U.S. swim team were held up at gunpoint by men with badges.
Instead, the incident was portrayed as a case of vandalism — authorities said the swimmers trashed a bathroom and urinated against the building — and Lochte and Jimmy Feigen were accused of falsely claiming a robbery to cover up their misdeeds. The police said the men were detained by guards because Lochte had additionally damaged a poster.
Ryan Lochte, U.S. swimmers never questioned about alleged Rio vandalism
An investigation by USA TODAY Sports into the police account found the trashing of the bathroom never happened and that police never even asked the swimmers about it. The swimmers never entered the bathroom or even forced the door, according to their testimonies to Rio authorities. Video doesn’t show them doing anything to the bathroom and the only damage is to an advertising poster torn down by Lochte as the swimmers left. They urinated in bushes behind the building because the bathroom was locked, they said in statements to police.
The swimmers, however, were detained by badge-carrying, armed prison guards working a private security detail, USA TODAY Sports confirmed. They were held at gunpoint as a translator worked out a deal for the swimmers to pay 160 reais – about $50 -- for the damage to the poster and be allowed to leave, they said in statements.
Lochte, who acknowledged he’d been drinking, had drawn the ire of authorities when he incorrectly described the incident in an impromptu interview hours after it occurred, saying that the men had been “pulled over” and he had a “gun to the forehead.” Neither of those details were correct and Lochte drew outrage from Brazilians who had grown tired of skepticism in the foreign press about their ability to host a secure Olympics. But the swimmers were in a cab about to pull away from the station when a man with a badge stopped it, and one of the guards did aim a gun at Lochte from close range, surveillance videos show.
USA TODAY Sports investigation raises questions about Rio cops, Lochte incident
Nevertheless, Feigen agreed to pay a settlement so he could avoid charges for filing a false report and leave Brazil, saying in a statement after he left that Rio authorities told him he might otherwise need to stay a month to get the matter sorted out.
In the wake of the USA TODAY Sports investigation, others are speaking up on behalf of Lochte and his teammates. The owner of an online tie company on Long Island said he’d love to bring on Lochte as a spokesperson, and Lochte’s camp said he’s received a host of preliminary inquiries from potential new corporate sponsors.
Lochte and the swimmers still face a hearing before a discipline commission of the International Olympic Committee. A date for that has not been announced.
Also unclear is whether any potential legal case against Lochte — Rio authorities also had accused him of filing a false police report — will proceed in the face of evidence that his account is largely true. In addition, a Brazilian lawyer said that, given that the U.S. swimmers never approached the police and “provoked” a false investigation, she did not feel the statute applies.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM THE RIO OLYMPICS:
