Ryan Lochte: an Olympic tale of gold medals and white privilege

[Judi Lynn]

Ryan Lochte: an Olympic tale of gold medals and white privilege

Marina Hyde
Friday 19 August 2016 12.38 EDT

So, in Ryan Lochte the International Olympic Committee finally has its poster boy. Nothing says “IOC, bitch!” like landing in a host city, extracting personal glory from it, partying it up and then leaving the place more broken and out of pocket than you found it. It’s such an IOC move, dude. You have your fun, you get wrecked, you piss on a gas station, you break its bathroom door, you claim to have been robbed, you blame a bunch of stuff on the crappy Brazilians.

That Lochte flew out of Brazil days before his story about being jumped at a Rio petrol station by assailants disguised as police officers unravelled – and thus can’t really be touched, even by irate Brazilian authorities, for the mess he left behind – is somehow even more perfect. Oh dear, you have a broken bathroom door? You have a bunch of white elephant stadiums no one wanted? I’m definitely giving a major F about this back in the first world!

So far, so Lausanne. The politics of the tall tale Lochte and his swim team bros spun the media about being robbed in Brazil, to disguise their drunken criminal damage, is almost too obvious to state. An economically struggling city, whose people made it vocally clear the Olympics were unwelcome, has spent much of its hosting period being dug at for failing to provide the five-star international tourist experience and immaculate security that today’s modern Olympic tourist demands.

In this sensitive climate, Lochte & Co claiming to have been robbed by gun-toting pretend police officers underscores the idea the host city is a semi-lawless backwater where no one is safe. Even the apology he posted today is so extravagantly preposterous it can only have been written as a dare. “It is traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country,” quoth Lochte of his trauma, “with a language barrier, and have a stranger point a gun at you and demand money to let you leave.” Which is one way of describing the security guard telling them to pay for their vandalism.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/19/ryan-lochte-olympic-tale-gold-medals-white-privilege-rio

[Warpy]

1. His teammates are pretty angry about being left to face the music

I'd like to see him extradited back to Brazil to face charges for filing a false report.

Shit's got to get real for this guy sometime, he's WAY overdue.

[milestogo]

2. He didn't file a report.

He texted his mother a tall tale.

He didn't think far enough ahead to realize that the press would hear about it and then he would be caught up in a lie. But he didn't file any report so I don't think he can be charged with filing a false report.

[Warpy]

3. So he gets away again

This is a real shame.

[msongs]

6. he didnt file a false report does not equal "so he gets away again"

[yeoman6987]

4. It's not like he made reservations and left.

His fight was scheduled before hand. This story is ridiculous when you consider how small and stupid it is. Lying? Oh boy he'd make a great politician.

[LanternWaste]

13. The important thing though, is that you continue to minimize it

The important thing though, is that you continue to minimize it to the point where even you have convinced yourself that it's merely trivia.

[yeoman6987]

15. Maybe you are right.

[Judi Lynn]

9. But, he's a 32 year old kid! Poor thing. Doesn't everyone know how special he is? n/t

[Travis_0004]

5. Horrible

Because of ryan everybody thinks there were 78 robberies that day.

In reality only 77 people were robbed. How can rios reputation ever recover?

[LanternWaste]

14. how will his reputation ever recover?

"How can rios (sic) reputation ever recover?"

More Kardashian-like, the question is how will his reputation ever recover? (No doubt though, the seventy-eighth potential victim is warmed by your sentiment...)

[SaintLouisBlues]

7. From the story: "An economically struggling city...has spent much of its hosting period being dug at

for failing to provide the five-star international tourist experience and immaculate security that today’s modern Olympic tourist demands."

The privilege of the developed world regarding Rio has been making me sick. And DU is no exception.

These frat boys didn't just piss on a gas station, they pissed on everyone working and hoping that South America pulls off a successful Olympics.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Lot of racist chauvinism going around, even now. Shallow, pathetic view of poorer nations, people,

with absolutely no grasp of their histories, or reality: hostility, ignorance with very deep roots. Ugly traits.

[Taitertots]

10. If white priviledge were relevant, Lochte wouldn't be getting in trouble for it

All the hullabaloo about this proves that white priviledge is irrelevant.

[Judi Lynn]

11. If he didn't believe in his own white priviledge, he wouldn't be in this position.

He would have humbled himself, and asked the personnel at the gas station for the key to the bathroom, like everyone else, and gone on his way.

"Hullabaloo." Uh, huh.

[Taitertots]

12. Nope. People of all races make similar mistakes. This has nothing to do with white priviledge

If anything, the constant hate directed against Lochte proves that white priviledge doesn't exist. At least not in a way that is meaningful and/or non-trivial.