Embattled American Olympian swimmer Ryan Lochte said in a new interview that his "mistake was overexaggerating" the story about being held up at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro, but he stopped short of admitting lying.
<section id="pane-main"> <section id="main-container"> <section data-behavior="author_overlay article_header_news_feed_item_meta social_tools comment" id="article-feed"> <article data-behavior="story_scroll story_progress" data-id="41559850" data-section="US" data-src="http://abcnews.go.com/US/ryan-lochte-mistake-exaggerating/story?id=41559850">"I just overexaggerate part of it, the very first part. I was very intoxicated," he told Brazil's main broadcaster, Globo. "I was a a little frightened, having a gun pointed to you.
"My mistake was overexaggerating what really happened," he said.
When he was asked whether he thought he was lying, he said, "I wasn't lying to a certain extent. I overexaggerated what was happened."
Lochte claimed during the games that he and three other U.S. swimmers were held up — with a gun cocked and pointed at his forehead — after leaving a party in Rio.
He has since backpedaled, telling NBC News' Matt Lauer in a clip posted online that although a gun was drawn during the incident, it was not pointed at his head.
"That didn't happen," he said. "The gun was drawn but not at my forehead."
Police said Lochte's story was a fabrication and that the Olympians were not robbed and were not victims. Rather, they alleged that the Olympians vandalized a bathroom at a gas station and were confronted by armed security guards.
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