Lochtegate Swimmer's Punished

In case you missed it, four members of USA's Olympic Swimming team were involved in a minor international incident in Rio.  Among them were Ryan Lochte, formerly of the Florida Gators and Gunnar Bentz of the Georgia Bulldogs.  Rounding out the team were Univ of Texas swimmers Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen.  The governing bodies of USA Olympics and USA Swimming have considered the actions of those involved and notified the swimmers of their decision as to disciplinary action.

All three swimmers not named Ryan will serve a four-month suspension from domestic & international national team competitions, forfeiture of their monthly stipends and access to USOC training facilities for the suspension period.  Additionally, they will not be permitted to visit the White House with other US Olympians and will not be attending the annual Golden Goggles event in 2016.

Mr. Lochte's punishment includes all of the above and goes further.  He is ineligible for next year's world championship meet.  He will forfeit all funding he received for his gold medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay.  His suspension is for 10 months during which he will not receive his monthly stipend or have access to USOC training facilities. Lastly, Mr. Lochte must perform 20 hours of community services.

In responding to the announcement, Mr. Lochte's attorney said, "the collective sanctions appear to be harsh.... Ryan did not commit a crime, he did not put the public safety at risk, and he did not cheat in his sport - we will leave it to others to evaluate the appropriateness of the penalties."

The Management at Dawg Sports is certain Corch Meyers would tell us these penalties are excessively harsh as all Mr. Lochte really did was tell a whopper of a story he later retracted and will no doubt cause him great emotional distress for which he will need to spend extensive time in a safe space with a professional cuddler.