“The athletes were held at a police station for many hours and I apologise for the trauma they went through, the problem with the accreditation was not their fault” said Chiller, who met with those involved along with AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong today.
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To avoid the full legal process and a court appearance in three weeks’ time, lawyers for the group negotiated an expedited hearing resulting in each athlete being given a two year good behaviour bond and a fine of 10,000 reais ($4092).
Brazilian lawyers representing the AOC joined them at the police station and along with De Jong began the process of working with the Brazilian authorities to resolve the matter.
Australian bosses are rushing to pay about $47,000 in fines so nine athletes caught using tampered Olympic accreditations can leave Rio as scheduled.
Officials for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Rio 2016 organizing committee were not available for comment on the Australians’ case.
A resolution was then presented to the athletes by De Jong.
In short, someone had supplied them with stickers to put on their accreditation placards, giving them access to the basketball court.
Chiller said the athletes were “not at fault” but said she couldn’t specify why. “The athletes understood that they perhaps had made a mistake, and understood that perhaps there would be consequences for that”.
“We respect fully here the laws in Brazil and the legal authorities”, Mr Bach told reporters.
The AOC said cycling bronze medalist Matthew Glaetzer was detained as a witness but was not charged.
The athletes were charged after attempting to gain entry to Olympic venue Carioca 1 for the Australian men’s basketball semi-final against Serbia on Friday night. He was not required to provide a statement to police.
But the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) insists it was an honest mistake, and has apologized to the athletes for their troubles.
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Police are reportedly also looking closely at stories about Australian swimmer Josh Palmer, who was allegedly robbed after a drunken night at Copacabana.
