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Ryan Lochte says he exaggerated about 'armed robbery', speaks with NBC's Matt Lauer about incident

Posted at 10:09 AM, Aug 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-21 10:20:26-04

American swimmer Ryan Lochte says he over-exaggerated what happened at a Rio de Janeiro gas station and acknowledged it was his "immature behavior" that got him and three teammates into a mess that consumed the final days of the Olympics.

Lochte, in a portion of an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer that aired Saturday, continued backtracking from a story that he initially described as an armed robbery. Police have said the swimmers vandalized a bathroom after a night of partying and armed guards confronted them and asked them to pay for the damage.

"It's how you want to make it look like," Lochte said. "Whether you call it a robbery or whether you call it extortion or us just paying for the damages, we don't know. All we know is that there was a gun pointed in our direction and we were demanded to give money."