See kids, this is what happens when you lie to your mother.

Ryan Lochte and his Olympic mates had themselves something of a bender on Saturday night, which stretched right into Sunday morning. They only arrived back at the Olympic Village around 7AM, which is when Lochte told his mom a whopper.

Next thing she speaks to the press, they start asking questions, Lochte makes it worse by doubling down on his lie. His first quotes from TIME:

“We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over,” Lochte said. “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.”

“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 cell phone, he left my credentials,” he added.

Everyone sighed, spoke ill of Rio’s crime problem, and Ryan basked in the glory of a lie well told.

But then the wheels began to come off:

Brazilian authorities suggested the U.S. swimmers fabricated the story following an incident in which they vandalized a gas station’s bathroom and then paid for the damage on the spot.

Video footage captured over the course of the night in question shows the athletes interacting with gas station employees and security guards. They can be seen in the edited tape entering a bright yellow taxi and exiting it apparently after a man confronts them. At least one passenger appears to open his wallet as he leaves the vehicle as another passenger exits with his hands up.

A top Brazilian police official said the four men were drunk after a night of partying and damaged the door of a bathroom, a soap dispenser and a mirror. “Their claim that they were the victims of assault or some kind of violence is not true,” State of Rio de Janeiro Police Chief Fernando Veloso said…

Here’s the video in question. Check around the 2:20 mark, that would be the point at which a security guard (essentially a member of Rio’s police force) pulls a gun to control the unruly athletes:

Here’s a snap of the damaged sign from TMZ, the barely noticeable crack in the middle sandwich…

Mashable with one of the reasons why so many are enraged:

Here’s an ugly but not unfamiliar look: A privileged young man from a wealthy nation seeks adventure in an exotic land, finds trouble instead, then tries to weasel out of that trouble by playing to negative stereotypes about the land in which he screwed up.

It’s the height of entitlement — and appears to be exactly what Lochte just did in Brazil…

“Let’s give these kids a break. Sometimes you take actions that you later regret,” Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada said Thursday. “Lochte is one of the best swimmers of all-time. They had fun, they made a mistake, it’s part of life, life goes on, let’s go.”

Of course, Andrada is being a company man and seeking to gloss over a negative story but — um, no. These aren’t “kids.” Lochte is 32 years old. He’s competing in his third Olympics.

No athlete wants to leave the Games in a cloud of shame, and there’s nothing wrong with a night out to celebrate your successes. When things go wrong, however, you should take them on the chin before you’re caught in front of the watching world with your pants around your ankles.

And never lie to your mom, of course.

[sources:time&mashable&tmz]