Did Ryan Lochte Lie About Getting Held Up At Gunpoint In Rio?

Ryan Lochte is pictured above. Matthew McConaughey is the one on the all-right, all-right, all-right.

Team USA swimmer Ryan Lochte is facing severe criticism following his appearance at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and not just because of his hair.

Earlier this week, Lochte told NBC's Today show that he and three teammates were held up at gunpoint by individuals posing as armed policge officers early on Sunday morning.

At the time, the world met the news with concern, quickly assuaged by Lochte’s own admission of blasé feelings during the life-or-death encounter: “I was like, ‘whatever.’”

However, there is now some debate as to whether the stick-up even went down.

Judge Keyla Blank was apparently rankled by surveillance video of Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger returning to the Olympic Village on Sunday morning, in which they are acting playfully, and with their “psychological and physical integrity unshaken”. Once again, we’d point to Lochte’s hair as evidence to the contrary, but we digress.

She then ordered the seizure of Lochte and Feigen’s passports, so an investigation could be properly conducted. Only problem is, USA Swimming has already skipped town, with Lochte’s dad confirming that his son was now back home.

As Mashable reports, Brazilian citizens and personalities (who have to deal with Rio’s crime on the regular, and who are maybe suspicious of American tourists making light of such an epidemic) have also questioned Lochte’s story, with local celeb Mariana Godoy calling him a liar and a coward on Twitter.

For their part, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) denied the incident ever took place, but the United States Olympic Committee has backed up Lochte’s account.

We may never know the truth. But at least we know this:

My hair is going back to its normal color tomorrow 🙏

— Ryan Lochte (@RyanLochte) August 16, 2016

Update: Seems Conger and Bentz were not fast enough. The AP is reporting that they were removed from their flight to the US by Brazilian authorities. More news as it develops.

Photo: Twitter / @RyanLochte.