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Speedo Is Cutting Ties With Ryan Lochte After Rio Lies

"We cannot condone behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for," the company said.
Aug 9, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Conor Dwyer (USA) , Townley Haas (USA) , Ryan Lochte (USA) and Michael Phelps (USA) with their gold medals after the men's 4x200m freestyle relay final in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Olympic Aquatics Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Reuters Staff / Reuters
Aug 9, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Conor Dwyer (USA) , Townley Haas (USA) , Ryan Lochte (USA) and Michael Phelps (USA) with their gold medals after the men's 4x200m freestyle relay final in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Olympic Aquatics Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Lochte recently admitted that he made up a story about being robbed in Rio during the Olympics.
Reuters Staff / Reuters
Ryan Lochte recently admitted that he made up a story about being robbed in Rio during the Olympics.

Speedo USA and Ralph Lauren announced Monday they will no longer sponsor Ryan Lochte following revelations that the swimmer fabricated a story about being robbed at gunpoint during the Rio Olympics.

The swimwear brand stated that the company “cannot condone behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for,” and that it hopes Lochte “learns from this experience.”

Lochte said Monday that he was “proud” of what he had achieved with the brand. “I respect Speedo’s decision and am grateful for the opportunities that our partnership has afforded me over the years,” he said in a statement to People.

Ralph Lauren said that its endorsement deal with Lochte was specifically for the 2016 Games and that it would not be renewing his contract, according to CNN. The company said in a statement that it “continues to proudly sponsor the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team and the values that its athletes embody.”

Before that announcement, Ralph Lauren had removed Lochte’s image from the “Meet Our Athletes” page on its website, Complex reported Sunday.

Another of Lochte’s sponsors, Syneron-Candela, which manufactures laser-based hair-removal devices, among other things, also announced Monday it would cease its partnership with the swimmer.

“We hold our employees to high standards,” the company said in a release, “and we expect the same of our business partners.”

Last week, the CEO of Airweave, a Japanese mattress manufacturer, told Bloomberg the company didn’t intend to drop Lochte as a sponsor “so long as he is a respectable athlete.”

The company’s perception of his respectability seems to have changed over the weekend, as Airweave announced Monday it, too, had no interest in a continued sponsorship.

Lochte admitted Saturday that he exaggerated a story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro with three other American swimmers, while authorities debunked the whole account as an outright lie.

Brazilian sources told ABC News on Thursday that surveillance video from that night actually showed one of the swimmers fighting with a gas station security guard and causing damage to a restroom. Lochte and the other swimmers appear drunk and disorderly in the surveillance footage.

This article has been updated with statements from Ralph Lauren, Syneron-Candela and Airweave.

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