Written Steve Visser at CNN.com
US swimmer Ryan Lochte will be suspended from his sport for 10 months and will not be allowed to participate in the 2017 world championship meet as a result of his involvement in a gas station incident in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics, a person with knowledge of the situation told CNN contributor Christine Brennan on Wednesday.
Breaking: Ryan Lochte will be suspended 10 months, to 6/30/17. He also will be banned from the 2017 world swimming championships in July.
— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) September 7, 2016
That means the 12-time Olympic medalist will not compete in another world championship until summer 2019. He turns 35 on August 3 that year.
The other three swimmers involved in the episode — Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and James Feigen — also face suspensions but not as long as Lochte’s, the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision has not been announced publicly, told Brennan.
A joint announcement on the suspensions by the United States Olympic Committee and US Swimming, the national governing body for the sport, is expected Thursday, the person said.
On Wednesday, the USOC told CNN it had nothing to report. US Swimming did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The gas-station episode, and Lochte’s “exaggerated” description of it later to newscasters, created an international hubbub and an embarrassment for Olympic officials.
Lochte, 32, initially said he and three other swimmers were the victims of a dramatic robbery when returning by taxi from a late-night party. He later backtracked after a police investigation found the swimmers were stopped by security guards at a gas station after committing an act of vandalism and paid approximately $50 in damages.
Bentz, Conger and Feigen have since publicly shared their version of the events with stories that differ from Lochte’s original tale and essentially match surveillance video released by Brazilian police.
