*According to TMZ Sports, Swimming champ Ryan Lochte has been dealt his punishment for the Rio gas station incident he and other swimmers were involved in. The decision is debatable, you could say. That’s because what the U.S. Olympic Committee handed down was seen as tough, but not career-ending.
USOC connected sources say Lochte has been suspended for 10 months. There are additional sanctions.
We’re told the punishment was handed down not just by the USOC but by the IOC and USA Swimming as well.
The punishment is harsher than Michael Phelps’ 6 month suspension for his 2 DUIs. The punishment was debated within the USOC, because Phelps put people’s lives at risk and Lochte arguably didn’t lie about a material fact. We’re told some of the USOC decision makers felt Lochte’s punishment was too severe.
The other 3 swimmers involved in the Rio incident were also suspended, but for less time. At least one of them got a 4 month suspension.
In other news about the embattled swimmer, Lochte hopes his time on “Dancing With the Stars” will prove to be much more than just taking home the coveted mirror ball trophy, reports Entertainment Tonight.
ET caught up with Lochte and his dance partner, Cheryl Burke, in New York City on Wednesday, where he opened up about the competition show being a second chance for him, following the backlash he received from his infamous gas station incident in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“I think that’s one of the things that’s really going to help, me being on this show,” he began. “There’s so many other important things, issues going on in the world, and you know, hopefully this helps, and helps put people in a different mind perspective of me, and you know, just move on, move forward.”
Lochte says he was actually approached to join season 23 of DWTS long before he made headlines for alleging he and three of his teammates were robbed at gunpoint following their impressive victories for Team USA at the Summer Olympics.
“Well, they’ve been asking for me to be on the [show] for, like, five years now, and with training and the Olympics, I couldn’t take that time off,” the 32-year-old athlete explains. “But now that I’m taking a mental break and everything, I can do the show. So, I decided I was going to do it before the Olympics, and then we finally signed the papers and everything after.”
Get the rest of this story at ET.
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