Brazilian authorities have removed American Olympic swimmers Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz off a plane in Rio de Janerio, the US Olympic Committee has confirmed.. Ostrow told The Washington Post, “Ryan left the country after his events, after fully meeting with the Brazilian authorities, the State Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation – everybody who wanted to meet with him. We are gathering further information”, the statement read.
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There was confusion over the whereabouts of a third swimmer, James Feigen.
Security footage published by the Daily Mail showed the men arriving at Rio de Janeiro’s Athletes’ Village appearing unfazed by their ordeal. Lochte told police that he couldn’t remember what kind of taxi they had been in, or what color it was-which, to be fair, sounds entirely plausible to anyone who’s ever heard Ryan Lochte interviewed before-but that the assailant (s) had pulled them out of the vehicle by pretending to be police.
“Their taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who demanded the athletes’ money and other personal belongings”.
However, police sources have said investigators have not found any evidence so far to back up the Americans’ story. NBC’s Matt Lauer reported Wednesday night from Rio (his report comes five minutes into this video) that Lochte told him by phone he did not make up the robbery story, but Lochte did change a few key details; most notably, Lochte now says he did not have a gun pointed at his head but rather just in his direction.
Instead of being pulled over by the men, Lochte said the swimmers stopped at a gas station to go to the bathroom when the robbers showed up.
“We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing, just a police badge, and they pulled us over”, Lochte said.
“The swim team moved out of the village after their competition ended, so we were not able to make the athletes available”, said USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky, who could not confirm the swimmers’ location for security reasons. “I don’t know that they knew how serious this was, and that they were about to start an worldwide incident”.
Speaking to NBC, Lochte described a harrowing encounter with the thieves. They also couldn’t recall details on the color or type of taxi they rode in or the exact time of the robbery, according to the Brazilian police official.
“They’re in Brazilian custody right now, and that’s something that we have no control over”. They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground – they got down on the ground. I refused, I was like we didn’t do anything wrong, so – I’m not getting down on the ground.
Now, Brazilian officials are suggesting that the USA swimmers may not have told the whole truth – and need to answer questions.
It fed into the existing concern about rampant crime in Rio, and directly challenged repeated assurances from Brazilian officials that the 85,000 police and soldiers deployed during the Games could at least keep the athletes safe.
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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, Rio time.
