Rio Scandals: Is It Ready, Will The Place Kill You & More!

[NUguy514]

3 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

And the $11K "fine" Feigen had to pay to get his passport back? That was out and out extortion, and I won't be convinced differently. Replace "visiting American athlete we can squeeze" with "local average Brazilian" and I sincerely doubt the fine would have been anywhere near that much.  

I posted last week that NPR interviewed an American journalist who had been living in Brazil for over a year and asked him whether this was extortion.  The journalist said that this is standard operating procedure in the Brazilian legal system, that the fee was nothing special or exorbitant, and that it had nothing to do with shaking down or making an example of an American.  So, no, it was not extortion, or at least not in any way that was unique to this particular incident, and such fines are absolutely leveled at the "local average Brazilian."

[camussie]

7 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I wonder if Al Roker will say that when he's in court.  

On what basis could Lochte sue Al Rocker and compel him to go to court?  Lochte lied.  That the Brazilian authorities may have lied to (and I think they did about the bathroom vandalism) doesn't change that Lochte lied.   This isn't a zero sum game.  Both parties could have and probably did lie.  

[FilmTVGeek80]

Quote

That second sentence is proof enough of your claim that they were four spoiled, drunk Americans who thought they could do whatever they wanted; just because they maybe didn't destroy the bathroom, that doesn't mean they weren't drunk assholes who thought they could do whatever they wanted.

 

Thank you! I will say that I think the public turned on Lochte not just because of the vandalism (and whether it was "just" tearing down a poster or damaging a door, it's still vandalism) but mostly because Lochte lied and tried to make it seem like he was a victim when he wasn't. That's not the Brazilian police's fault.

 

7 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

And the $11K "fine" Feigen had to pay to get his passport back? That was out and out extortion, and I won't be convinced differently. Replace "visiting American athlete we can squeeze" with "local average Brazilian" and I sincerely doubt the fine would have been anywhere near that much.

 

You may sincerely doubt it, but as NUGuy514 pointed out there's information out there that, yes, that is standard operating procedure and not extortion.

[Noreaster]

7 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

This X 1000.  Not to condone the original incident (which I don't think anyone does), but at this point it comes down to the Brazilian police had their feelings hurt.  Wanting to have Lochte extradited to Brazil to answer charges for this is beyond absurd. If the jerk didn't still want to have a swimming career (which is apparently all the idiot can do) there wouldn't even be a glimmer of hope that Brazil would pursue this or that the US would agree. And the $11K "fine" Feigen had to pay to get his passport back? That was out and out extortion, and I won't be convinced differently. Replace "visiting American athlete we can squeeze" with "local average Brazilian" and I sincerely doubt the fine would have been anywhere near that much.  

I doubt that the Brazilians are actually going to extradite Lochte.  It appears the police are done with their investigation if they are recommending Lochte be charged.  My guess is that all parties (the Brazilian prosecutors, the embassies, the Olympic officials, Lochte's lawyers, etc) are now working out a deal so they can resolve it once and for all. Lochte will probably have to pay a fine (similar to or more than Feigen's) and provide an updated formal statement.  That's my guess anyway. 

[Shaynaa]

Hey look.  New scandal.  Did the Olympic Pool Give Some Swimmers an Advantage?

[SnideAsides]

Russia's been banned from the Paralympics because of its doping. No, not the Rio Paralympics. The ones in Pyeongchang in two years.

[jjj]

Lochte today said (part of his DWTS announcement) that the Rio incident was "overblown" -- that may be true, Ryan, but you are not the one who gets to say that, as it would not have blown up without your initial lie. 

[A.Ham]

4 minutes ago, jjj said:

Lochte today said (part of his DWTS announcement) that the Rio incident was "overblown" -- that may be true, Ryan, but you are not the one who gets to say that, as it would not have blown up without your initial lie. 

This. I have some reservations about what Rio police have said, only because I think if there was video proof of the restroom damage, it would have surfaced the moment the other videos showed up. And there are those three suspicious minutes missing from the video as well. Having said that, I think Rio police, already feeling perhaps a bit sensitive about the situation, embellished or "exaggerated" the truth, to use Ryan's own words (still not ok to do in my book, but at least more understandable given the situation).

But Ryan does not get any kind of pass from me because, as pointed out, none of this would have happened if he had not lied to begin with. Even in the days after, once sober, he could have come to his senses and clarified things, particularly when seeing his friends getting into trouble for his actions. But he did not do that. Instead, he changed the story slightly but doubled down on the "I was robbed" storyline. He had plenty of opportunities to self-correct and do the right thing. Even Rowdy Gaines said he was texting him and urging him to apologize, and Lochte did not respond (at least up until the time Rowdy provided that statement). Bottom line for me is, integrity matters, particularly when you represent your country on a world stage.

[Noreaster]

Yep, Ryan really doesn't sound apologetic about the whole scandal.  From his interview on Good Morning America this morning, it's mainly about how the media is overhyping it ("there are other issues that the world is facing").  Please, that may be true but seriously when people say shit like that, they are not accepting responsibility for their own roles in the matter.  

He also says how the USA Today article proves the story about vandalizing the bathroom is "absurd"...which is just a stupid thing to say.  Like dude, if you're going to argue that you were intoxicated, you can't argue that anything is absurd since presumably you weren't thinking clearly and can't remember that well.  For goodness sakes, just the fact that you pulled down a metal advertisement for no reason is kind of absurd.  (Not to mention, the USA Today article is pretty flawed when it says that since they can't find video that shows the swimmers damaging the door, it must mean it didn't happen.) 

I really don't know what his PR team is advising him, but he continues to sound like a dumbass.  Here's one article that quotes large parts of his GMA interview: http://www.eonline.com/news/790989/ryan-lochte-joins-dancing-with-the-stars-season-23-and-puts-rio-drama-behind-him

Another thing, if he really wants to try and put this incident behind him, maybe it's not a good idea to sign endorsements that seem to draw on the scandal.  He just signed a deal with a personal security alarm company: http://time.com/4472952/ryan-lochte-endorsement-personal-alarm/ .  Also there's that other deal with the lozenges that are "forgiving on the throat".  

Edited August 30, 2016 by Noreaster

[jjj]

Well, one swimmer not involved in The Incident got a hero's welcome home:  Nathan Adrian.  I'll post this over on the swimming thread, also.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-olympic-swimmer-adrian-receives-triumphal-welcome-home-in-bremerton/

[xaxat]

Well, at least she got through the Olympics. Brazil's Dilma Rousseff impeached by senate in crushing defeat.

[ratgirlagogo]

From the linked article above:

"He [Michel Timer, Rousseff's successor] has promised to introduce austerity measures that will restore Brazil’s credit ratings, which under Rousseff fell to junk levels. This is popular with investors, but not with the public."

So it's Greece all over again.  Who didn't see THIS one coming.   Stupid public! why don't they see why they have to sacrifice their lives and their childrens' lives to benefit the international investors!

Edited September 3, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[xaxat]

To be fair, no one saw the crash in commodity prices that led to this coming.

Pretty much everyone was bullish on Brazil at the time they won their bid.

[Occasional Hope]

One of the paralympic cyclists has been killed in the road race:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37398333

[Ohwell]

I heard about that this morning.  So sad.