He had been staying in his hotel room and meant to go back to the USA soon.
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August 15-The United States Olympic Committee said it does not plan to change its security plan for athletes in Rio de Janeiro after decorated swimmer Ryan Lochte and three teammates were robbed at gunpoint yesterday by thieves posing as police officers.
“This happened the way he described it”, Ostrow said.
Mario Andrada, chief spokesman of Rio 2016, said at Monday’s press briefing: “Everybody saw the confirmation by the U.S. swimmers that indeed they were held up when returning to the Olympic Village”. The outing was several hours after Olympic swimming ended Saturday night at the Rio Games.
Lochte and fellow swimmers Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen had left a hospitality house hosted by France early Sunday in a taxi bound for the Olympic Village. He is a 12-time Olympic medalist. The swimmers also could not say what time the events occurred.
“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 told the NBC’s Today program.
One of the fake officers put a cocked gun to Lochte’s forehead and took his money and wallet, the swimmer told NBC’s “Today” show.
“I refused, I was like we didn’t do anything wrong, so – I’m not getting down on the ground”.
Word of the robbery touched off a chain of confusion between Olympic and USA officials.
When reports of a robbery surfaced Sunday morning, the International Olympic Committee initially denied they were true, and said the reports were only coming from the USOC.
“We obviously regret that the violence has taken place so close to athletes, we have requested the security authorities that they need to make everybody safe in the city”.
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.
This year’s Olympic games in Brazil have been under scrutiny for security issues and the crimes that have been committed in around where some of the events have taken place. Rio police have said they plan to interview the swimmers as part of their investigation into the robbery.
“The police spoke to some of the athletes yesterday and the police are looking for the cab driver who drove them back to get more information”, Andrada said. Many such crimes don’t even get reported by victims.
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“Being apart from him for the last three weeks, four weeks from when I saw him last, he’s grown so much”, Phelps said.
