RIO DE JANEIRO — A security guard brandished a gun after four American swimmers vandalized a gas station bathroom, Brazilian police officials said Thursday, illuminating many aspects of an incident that has spiraled into a thorny legal case testing the relations between Brazil and the United States.
The chronology of events described by the police seemed to suggest that the American swimmer Ryan Lochte had not fabricated his version of events entirely, but rather had exaggerated certain aspects and left out key details.
The police officials said “there was no robbery in the way it was reported by the athletes,” and “they were not the victim of the criminal act they described.