Lochte Mess

Ryan Lochte apologized for his statements about the non-robbery - actually an altercation over vandalism that he and other swimmers caused at a gas station - that took place Sunday, but he never admitted to lying, which only seemed to leave him in a deeper hole. It's also an embarrassment for us Americans, as we are trying to put the "ugly American tourist" stereotype behind us.

This is worse than the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, where members of the U.S. men's hockey team - a team entirely staffed with professionals - trashed their rooms at the Olympic village after losing a key game in the Olympic tournament and ending up in sixth place, because the hockey team never attempted to blame anyone else for their behavior (though they downplayed the damage they did), and the United States Olympic Committee was more swift and effective in handling the situation than it could have been with Lochte, given the initially murky circumstances in his case. 

(Aside:  The 1998 Winter Olympics were the first winter Olympiad to feature women's ice hockey; the U.S. won the gold medal that event.  Before 1998 it was believed that men play ice hockey and women don't; as it turned out then, in the U.S., at least, the opposite was true.) 

All right, let's move on.  There are still some surprises left in track and field in Rio, and as I write this, the U.S. and Italy  are in an intense men's volleyball semifinal match.  These Games are going to end with a bang.