This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Rio de Janeiro
Brazilians deserve better treatment. Gordon Hayward may have to rewrite his blog post. Ryan Lochte should come back to Rio and apologize in person.
All of those thoughts are swimming through my mind as I process what became Thursday's biggest story of the Olympics — until those highly anticipated 19 seconds of Usain Bolt's running the 200 meters, or maybe not even then.
Amid all of the easy jokes available about Lochte's fabricated story of being robbed at gunpoint, I'm not finding anything funny about it. The swimmer's tale never could overshadow what American athletes have done in these games on their way to winning 100-plus medals, but does it tarnish the country's performance? Absolutely. He got out of Rio before his teammates, who were taken off an airplane and detained, but he should be held accountable.
A security guard held a gun during the incident at a gas station where the swimmers allegedly damaged a bathroom, Brazilian authorities clarified in a news conference Thursday. But no evidence supports Lochte's "fantastical version" of what happened, Civil Police chief Fernando Veloso said in a New York Times account.
Hazards exist in Rio, as they do in any major city in the world. And my experience of Brazil will be skewed by my ability to have stayed within the Olympic network, with visible security personnel and designated transportation. Even then, I was fortunate not to be covering women's basketball the night when a media bus was hit by either gunfire or rocks, breaking the glass.
The point is, Brazil's efforts in staging these games should be rewarded with an enhanced worldwide image of the country, at the very least. Economic issues and political turmoil are not going to solve themselves because of what happens during these 17 days, but the overall outcome should be positive for the country.
Brazilians have supported their teams wonderfully. I'll never forget watching all five of Jazz guard Raul Neto's games in this tournament, just because of the atmosphere, and I'm looking forward to the environment in Maracana Stadium for Saturday's men's soccer gold medal game. Not every event has been well attended — as happened in Salt Lake City in 2002, when Utahns applied for tickets and were thrilled to watch whatever events they drew. It's different here, but that's not the average Brazilian's fault.
Brazil is filled with all kinds of problems, and crime is one of them. I'm actually happy to learn the robbery never happened and that Lochte concocted his story and persuaded his USA swimming teammates to join him in the lies about the incident.
In fully explaining for the first time why he turned down an invitation to play for the USA basketball team, Hayward cited the birth of his second daughter in mid-July, which is all the reason he needed. The Jazz veteran also wrote Wednesday, "You've got the whole thing with the Zika virus. There is also a lot of crime there, as the whole thing with Ryan Lochte showed."
Hayward's words may have seemed true at the time he wrote them. Then again, he never would have been in a taxi at 6 a.m. after a night of partying at the France house. He would have gone from the USA Basketball cruise-ship accommodations to the arena and back, and would have enjoyed playing in front of the Carioca Arena crowd.
His primary motivation for staying home is a valid, personal choice — and I would say the same thing about Jazz teammate Joe Ingles, who left his newborn twins with his wife in Australia and came to Rio. I endorse both players' decisions, and how they made them. But Zika and the potential of armed robbery are not good arguments for Hayward to use, as the Lochte case is now showing.
Wow. This guy tells a good story, though. My columns from Rio undoubtedly would have been more entertaining if I could just make up stuff.
"They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground — they got down on the ground. I refused, I was like we didn't do anything wrong, so — I'm not getting down on the ground," Lochte told NBC. "And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, 'Get down,' and I put my hands up. I was like, 'whatever.' He took our money, he took my wallet — he left my cellphone, he left my credentials."
The story held up nicely, until surveillance video at a gas station proved otherwise and created a whole other set of problems for Lochte and his friends. This is a cover-up that got exposed.
Lochte is 32 years old. He should know better, and he'll have to live with the outcome of his Brazilian episode. When he's punished, I'll be like, "Whatever."
Twitter: @tribkurt