An anonymous law enforcement official told The Associated Press Brazilian police have been unable to find the man who was driving the taxi in which the swimmers said they were riding, or any other witnesses to the crime.
Advertisement
“While it is true that my teammates and I were victims of a robbery early Sunday morning, what is most important is that we are safe and unharmed”, he said.
Read: Did Olympic Pool Turn Ryan Lochte’s Newly Dyed Hair Green?
The swimming competition in Rio ended on Saturday night.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) initially tried to deny the incident, but Lochte confirming the story deaded their struggle.
Bentz, Conger and Lochte won the 4x200m freestyle relay team at Rio games.
“Today in the morning he received the news about Lochte’s incident, so he called him and Lochte told him he was fine and said the taxi he was in got robbed”.
The news that the swimmers didn’t notify the USOC comes on the heels of the news that they also did not file a police report. Police interviewed Lochte and one other swimmer, who said they had been intoxicated and could not remember what type and color of taxi they rode in or where the robbery happened, the police official said.
Lochte said he refused to get down, saying they hadn’t done anything wrong.
“And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, “Get down” and I put my hands up, I was like ‘whatever'”.
Later in the day, Lochte described the incident to NBC’s “Today” show. “We just learned that the police spoke with the athletes involved, and they are looking for the cab driver to get more information”. Wlodarczyk, who took silver in the event at the London 2012 Games, said the athletes struggled to cope with the heat inside the Olympic Stadium.
“We have requested that authorities make sure that people are safe everywhere in the city”. “Rio is an incredible city and there is going to be problems anywhere you go”.
Advertisement
“I was chatting with some Americans last night close to 2 a.m., and they all echoed the same sentiment – none of them felt any uneasiness of being out that late on the beach”.
