One of Olympics organizers’ biggest nightmare scenarios came to fruition early Sunday when a high-profile athlete, USA swimmer Ryan Lochte, was robbed at gunpoint.
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The story of how Lochte got into the situation is a freakish one.
A spokesman for Brazilian Pereira told Reuters on Sunday Pereira had called Lochte after hearing reports the USA swimmer had been the victim of a gun-point robbery the night before.
“They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground – they got down on the ground”, he told TODAY’s Billy Bush.
The armed robbers proceeded to threaten the American athletes and ordered them to get down on the ground, which Lochte’s teammates did.
The men told the swimmers to drop to the ground and demanded their money and belongings, Lochte said.
A spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee confirmed the incident in a statement.
Four members of the U.S. Olympic swimming team, including six-time gold medallist Ryan Lochte, have reported being robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro. “We have requested the security authorities that they need to make sure that everybody is safe everywhere in the city”.
Conflicting accounts had swirled on Sunday morning, after a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee said reports of the incident were “absolutely not true”, citing information that had been provided by the us committee.
“I couldn’t believe it”, said Michael Phelps, a good friend of Lochte’s and one of his roommates in the athletes village. They let the swimmers keep their cell phones and credentials.
Lochte’s mom, Ileana also made a statement, saying, “I think they’re all shaken up”.
Rio de Janeiro civil police told CNN they have opened an investigation, a few hours after first learning about the robbery from the media, and had not been contacted by the USOC. “There are going to be problems anywhere you go and we’ve been briefed on how to mitigate those risks as best possible”, Adrian told a news conference.
Crime has been one of the top concerns of Olympic delegates and sports fans at Rio 2016.
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Lochte scored his sixth Olympic gold medal for the 4×200-meter relay, but didn’t medal in his sole individual event of the Games, the 200-meter medley.
