The truth is that nobody knows the truth about what happened in the curious case of Ryan Lochte. It's possible Lochte himself doesn't know. What happens in Rio is supposed to stay in Rio.But did Lochte and the group of Olympic swimmers he was partying with really get mugged when they left a club in the middle of the night, as he said, by armed guys dressed up like cops' Or, did he make the whole thing up' And why would he do that' We can come to no definitive conclusion, but we do know a few things.This story actually started with Lochte, a 32-year old man and one of the greatest swimmers of all time, out partying Saturday night and then coming back at 7 a.m. Sunday and telling his mom where he had been all night. That is actually the basis of the entire thing.Think about this: You come back from a long night out and you find yourself in the position of explaining to your mom where you had been.Would you feel confident later that your answer could hold up in a court of law'Well, Lochte's mom told Ben Way of Fox Sports News her baby had been robbed. That reporter put it on Twitter, and the story took off. And now it has escalated to the point where the Rio police and Brazilian officials wanted to seize Lochte's passport, though he was already back in the U.S. on Wednesday. They did track down Lochte's party mates Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz and pulled them off their plane Wednesday evening, according to Simon Romero and Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times.It's as if they are hardened criminals trying to flee the country when their crime, if anyone actually did tell police a false story, is roughly half a step above irrelevant.The whereabouts of a fourth member of Lochte's group, Jimmy Feigen, were unknown for much of Wednesday, which made him a swimmer/fugitive. But it was reported very late at night, by USA Today's Josh Peter, that Feigen said he was in Brazil and cooperating with authorities.Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee denied the initial reports before correcting itself.The media worldwide, particularly the Daily Mail in London, have been looking at the case from all angles trying to figure out if Lochte was lying. The Brazilian police said there is no evidence that any of Lochte's mugging actually happened, according to Rodrigo Viga and Daniel Flynn of Reuters.This story has gone off the deep end. And it only works because it involves Lochte, a surfer dude. If his reality show had had this type of stuff on it, it would still be on.Basically, as I see it, Lochte went on a bender, as many young people traveling to Rio do, and then told his mother a story that could be true or might not be. But after his mom told a reporter and the reporter made it public, then Lochte 1) continued to tell the truth in an effort to assist police in catching a criminal, or 2) had to stick by his original lie while it escalated into an international incident.Meanwhile, Brazil's government is desperately fighting a worldwide image problem. The Olympics are supposed to be a way to sell your city and country to the world. It's a massive money-losing prospect that only pays off if tourists start coming later. In this case, Rio was an awesome party town before the Olympic spotlight and now seems to be about Zika virus, unpaid police and inept planning.So when one of the world's most famous athletes says he was robbed at gunpoint, that makes officials a little jumpy.A lot jumpy. They might be willing to do almost anything to discredit Lochte.The media all seem to agree that credit for breaking the story goes to Way of Fox Sports News in Australia. Way did post that Lochte had been robbed at gunpoint. He also tweeted this:The whole thing has the feel of the movie The Hangover. More details of what really happened that night are going to keep coming out, and do not be surprised if it ends up including a monkey, tattoos and a wedding.Lochte hasn't said much publicly about what happened. He did tell USA Today's Nicole Auerbach he didn't go to the USOC with his story at first because "We were afraid we'd get in trouble."That statement, coupled with telling the story to his mom, places him at roughly six years old.He also told Billy Bush on NBC's Today Show that "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. They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the groundthey 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 cellphone, he left my credentials."He said that on Sunday in Rio.He called NBC's Matt Lauer on Wednesday and, according to Lauer, said the gun wasn't right at his head as he had once said, but just pointed in his direction. Is that an easy mistake to make when you're drunk'Not to go all Nancy Grace here. But all the theories about the holes in Lochte's story are easy to explain away. Lochte told police he had gotten back to the Olympic Village at 4 a.m. when it was really 7 a.m. Liar' Well, you're partying in a club for hours. Are you sure you're going to know what time it is'Why hasn't the taxi driver shown up if he really exists' Well, maybe he took Lochte to whatever trouble he was looking for. Maybe he prefers anonymity right now.What about the video of the swimmers arriving at the Olympic Village' It showed them with their watches. The mugger didn't take their watches' Well, maybe the mugger wanted quick cash and a quick exit.The details should keep rolling in while the world's serious media try to get to the heart of Lochte's bender. At some point, Lochte himself might remember. Greg Couch covers the Olympics for Bleacher Report.
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