Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Fiona de Jong said all parties had agreed on the punishment,”We have agreed to an outcome which is the payment of a fine and a good behaviour bond for each of the athletes”.
Advertisement
They included members of the cycling, rugby, archery, hockey and rowing teams, the Australian Olympic team said in a statement.
The athletes knew they were using tampered accreditations but Chiller says it’s not their fault.
“We will do everything we can to get the passports back”.
Rio de Janeiro: Australia’s drama-filled Olympics are far from over with nine athletes caught in an accreditation bungle still without their passports ahead of the chartered fight they are due to catch home with teammates on Tuesday.
Brought in as Australia’s first woman chef de mission to replace the amiable Nick Green after the London Games were blighted by a swimming team scandal, the former modern pentathlete laid down the law from day one.
“The translation is not precise but it was effectively for using a document for a objective not intended, falsifying a document”, de Jong said on Saturday morning.
Chiller said that if the passports were not returned in time, the charter flight would leave without the nine athletes and that a second flight would be arranged for them.
The so-called “naughty nine” were charged with falsifying a document after being nabbed with stickers on their accreditations when attempting to gain entry to the Boomers’ basketball semi-final against Serbia on Saturday morning (AEST).
“I think it’s very important to note that the athletes were definitely not at fault”.
Chiller said tampering with accreditations to get into venues was widespread.
The Australian delegation initially refused to move into the athletes’ village amid safety concerns, instead opting to stay in a hotel.
Josh Palmer alleged he was robbed on a night out.
“I said that’s not the way that our team should behave and it shouldn’t be facilitated”.
“It’s been a practice that’s happened in many Olympic Games and amongst many NOCs”, she said.
AOC president John Coates last week lashed out at the Australian Sports Commission and its businessman leadership, blaming it for the team’s result.
Wylie pointed out that the AU$134 million (US$101.69 million) distributed by Australia’s Winning Edge funding program pales in comparison with the $476 million (US$ 361.24 million) given by UK’s national lottery scheme. “Security was a massive challenge, transport had its problems …”
“I can’t be any more specific at this point in time until we’ve completed our own investigation”, she said.
Advertisement
Palmer was called in by police after initially refusing to take official action over his claims an armed man had forced him to withdraw $1000 from an ATM in Copacabana.
