The US Olympic Committee has apologised to Brazil after four American swimmers falsely claimed they were robbed at gunpoint by men holding police badges in Rio. The false allegations had fueled enormous criticism of the Games host city.
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Swimmer Ryan Lochte originally claimed he had been robbed at gunpoint while with three other members of the US swim team – James Feigen, Conger, and Bentz – a story he has since altered. The statement says the athletes have yet to be interviewed by police.
The BBC reported that Brazilian police sources stated the reason for the swimmers’ story was because they had smashed up a bathroom door in the petrol station in Barra da Tijuca, 16 kilometers from the Olympic Park.
Brazilian authorities let two United States swimmers leave Rio after they retracted a claim to have been victims of a dramatic mugging during the Olympic Games, officials said.
Bentz and Conger flew out of Brazil Thursday night after revising their earlier statements to the police.
Sergio Riera, an attorney for Conger and Bentz, said the swimmers were frightened and confused as to why they had been taken off their flight and over what they were being ordered to do by different authorities.
Brazil’s Globo TV on Thursday aired security video of the swimmers showing them arriving at the gas station in a taxi, entering the building, leaving, and later sitting on the curb with their hands up, as instructed by one of the staff members at the gas station.
The removal of the swimmers from the plane Wednesday night follows reports that a Brazilian judge issued a search and seizure warrant for Lochte’s and Feigen’s passports as questions emerged about their accounts. “Once the security officials received money from the athletes, the athletes were allowed to leave”, the USOC said.
USOC added in its statement: “As we understand it, the four athletes (Bentz, Conger, Feigen and Ryan Lochte) left France House early in the morning of August 14 in a taxi headed to the Olympic Village”.
According to the Brazilian media, at least one of the athletes has admitted that the assault was invented and has ratified the investigation of the Brazilian police.
“They did not lie in their statements”.
Bentz and Conger have now returned to the U.S. after giving their version of events to investigators.
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The gas station is close to Olympic Park, where the sporting events have been overshadowed over the past two weeks by a series of muggings and robberies, including incidents involving other athletes and two visiting government ministers.
