A Brazilian judge has issued an order preventing American swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen from leaving the country, stating that they gave conflicting testimonies about being robbed earlier this week.
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But Brazilian authorities, who have been under pressure to portray the Olympic host country in a positive light, appear to have taken issue with Lochte’s account.
Feigen is still in Brazil.
Directing traffic in front of the busy club, city worker Djaer Junior said he was working the overnight shift Sunday but did not remember anything out of the ordinary, or Lochte and his shock of dyed blond hair.
“They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground – they got down on the ground”. NBC is broadcasting the Games in Rio.
According to Lauer, however, Lochte said his initial interactions with police were “casual”, “friendly” and “vague”, and that “never during the questioning did they question his truthfulness”. The 32-year-old swimmer was going to pick up his auto and buy a new wallet to replace the one that he said was stolen in the robbery. Lauer relayed that Lochte said he didn’t think police expressed any skepticism over his account.
Earlier, a Brazilian judge ordered Lochte’s passport to be seized, saying his claim about the robbery needed to be investigated.
But the athletes were not there.
“We have seen media reports that two USA citizen athletes were detained”, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said.
Lochte said he had a gun put to his forehead in the robbery, when the swimmers’ taxi was pulled over by criminals who forced them to lie on the ground and stole money and other items.
The other big difference in the story, according to Lauer, is that Lochte backtracked on the part about the gun being held to his forehead.
Civil police say they are still looking for the taxi driver the athletes say they were with when they were robbed.
Sandusky said that due to security protocols, he could not disclose the swimmers’ whereabouts.
Ostrow said Lochte, a gold medal victor in Rio, had “fully cooperated with the Brazilian authorities while in Rio”.
“He sat for a victim interview with the Brazilian Tourist Police, USOC Security, State Department, FBI, and anyone else that the Brazilian authorities requested to be present”, he said. He was planning on leaving, and he left. He was not asked by the Brazilian authorities to remain in Brazil for further investigation.
“We stand by what he provided in that interview and signed off on”. “We are gathering further information”, the statement read.
Police said they had not been able to track down the driver who the swimmers said drove them back to the village. Blanc said that Feigen, however, said that the athletes were surprised by some robbers, but that only one was armed.
Another potential issue highlighted by judge was the behavior of the athletes on arrival at the Olympic Village in the aftermath.
“One sees that the supposed victims arrived with their physical and psychological integrity intact, even playing with each other, showing that there wasn’t any psychological shock inherent to such alleged violence”, the statement read. Per the Daily Mail he was in Brazil on Tuesday.
It’s the latest development in a unusual case that has left many puzzled – and has led to accusations in Brazil that the American swimmers fabricated their account.
CNN is unable to authenticate the video.
“The police came and took all the video from that night”, Alves told the DailyMail.com.
Police stopped the two swimmers at Rio’s Tom Jobim International Airport, taking them off their flight back home in order to question them.
Facing top competition for the first time in two months, Park was flawless in a round of 5-under 66 that left her one shot behind Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand.
Lochte says he didn’t initially tell the U.S. Olympic Committee about the incident “because we were afraid we’d get in trouble”. If they need to get in touch with me, we have always been fully cooperating.
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The elder Lochte said his son’s Olympic credential and cell phone weren’t taken during the incident early Sunday morning.
