Chiller said there had been no incidents involving Australian team members since two rowing coaches were robbed at knifepoint at Ipanema Beach on the night of the opening ceremony.
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The outing was several hours after Olympic swimming ended on Saturday night at the Rio Games.
After American swimmer Ryan Lochte was robbed at gunpoint early Sunday morning in Rio de Janeiro, the Australia Olympic Committee has prohibited its athletes from visiting the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches at night, per ESPN.com’s Tom Hamilton. We have put now the actual sand on the Ipanema and Copacabana beaches off limits [from 6 p.m.to 6 a.m.].
“There has been an increase in petty criminal-but still criminal-activity on the beaches”, Chiller said. Even if they’re only going 400-500 metres.
Swimmer Mitch Larkin, who won silver in the 200-meter backstroke, said it was “a little disappointing” that these security protocols were needed but said “health and safety are the most important things in life” and “these guidelines are fantastic”.
It’s expected that despite the controversy a dressing down from Chiller will be enough and no further action will be taken against the team members. Unfortunately it probably won’t be the famous Copacabana but we can go past it. I will go on the record to say that I do not see the IOC (International Olympic Committee) awarding Rio the Olympics for a long time or possibly never again.
The US athletes were returning from a party with the Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira at a complex run by the French Olympic Committee at the time of the robbery.
“I think they’re all shaken up”.
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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. “There were a few of them”, Ileana Lochte told USA Today.
