The robbery was initially a source of confusion for the USOC and International Olympic Committee, who denied Lochte had been robbed Monday before reversing course.
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Lochte told USA Today Sports on Tuesday that the discrepancy was the result of he and his teammates’ fears that they would get in trouble if they told the USOC about the incident.
“We got pulled over in our taxi, and these guys came out with a badge”. They were on their way back to the athletes’ village after a party (NS) when their taxi got pulled over by several armed men posing as police. “We regret the violence has got so close to the athletes”, Mario Andrada said at his media briefing.
“And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, “Get down” and I put my hands up, I was like ‘whatever'”.
Violence is just one of many things Olympic athletes have had to worry about in these games, with concerns about the Zika virus and contaminated water.
But the situation was cleared up on Sunday afternoon when USOC released a statement confirming Lochte, along with team-mates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen, were held up by thieves.
Fellow Team USA swimmer Nathan Adrian said he heard the news about the incident when he woke up, but said he wasn’t anxious. Rio police have said they plan to interview the swimmers as part of their investigation into the robbery. With 85,000 police and soldiers deployed to provide security, roughly twice the number for London 2012, authorities have said they can ensure the safety of everyone at the Games.
Michael Phelps, Lochte’s teammate and roommate in the athletes village, said, ‘I couldn’t believe it’. The city of more than six million people has a long history of violent crime linked to the impoverished slums that cling to the hills overlooking its golden beaches.
Fake police stops like the one reported by Lochte happen in Rio, but are not common in that area, police say. Can you imagine the national outrage if there is another incident involving U.S. Olympians and a gun?
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“It doesn’t behoove Ryan and anyone else to make up a story”, Ostrow said.
