Ryan Lochte's 'robbery tale' at Rio Olympics fabricated , claims Brazilian police official
Friday 19 August 2016 07:33, UK
A Brazilian police official claims that American swimmer Ryan Lochte fabricated a story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro.
A United States Olympic Committee spokesman, Patrick Sandusky, said on Sunday that Lochte along with swim team-mates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen were robbed in the early hours of Sunday morning after leaving a party at the French Olympic team's hospitality house.
Lochte - a 12-time Olympic medallist - claimed the four athletes were travelling back to the Olympic Village in a taxi when armed men carrying police badges pulled them over. He said the gunmen ordered them to drop to the ground and demanded their wallets and belongings.
Sandusky said: "The taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who demanded the athletes' money and other personal belongings."
The police official, who has direct knowledge of the investigation, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about an ongoing probe.
He said at around 6am on Sunday, Lochte, along with fellow swimmers Conger, Bentz and Feigen, stopped at a petrol station in Barra da Tijuca, a suburb of Rio where many Olympic venues are located.
One of the swimmers then tried to open the door to an outside bathroom, but it was locked.
A few of the swimmers pushed on the door and broke it, according to the official, and a security guard then appeared and confronted them.
The official says the guard was armed with a pistol, but he never took it out or pointed it at the swimmers.
According to the official, the gas station manager then arrived. Using a customer to translate, the manager asked the swimmers to pay for the broken door. After a discussion, they did pay him an unknown amount of money and then left.
The official says that swimmers Conger and Bentz, who were pulled off a plane going back to the United States late Wednesday, told police that the robbery story had been fabricated.
His story was given further credence at a police press conference later on Thursday when the veracity of the Americans' claims were again called into doubt.
"No robbery was committed against these athletes. They were not victims of the crimes they claimed," Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso said.
The story took a further twist as Brazilian TV aired a security video of the incident which purported to show the American quartet in an argument with staff at the petrol station who told them to sit on the ground with their hands in the air.
The video appeared to show the swimmers arriving in a taxi and then arousing the suspicion of staff by going into a corridor, out of view of the camera. They try to leave the station but staff stop them.
The video was aired by Globo TV which said on its website the swimmers had gone into a bathroom at the station and caused damage.
A different camera shows three of the swimmers sitting on the ground at one point, including one who appeared to be Lochte. He stood up to remonstrate with staff and his team-mates pulled him back down.
Mario Andrada, a spokesman for the Rio Games organisers, said he has sympathy for the American swimmers and the predicament they finds themselves in.
"Let's give these kids a break. Sometimes you take actions that you later regret," Andrada said. "Lochte is one of the best swimmers of all-time. They had fun, they made a mistake, it's part of life, life goes on, let's go."
