More details are emerging of the harrowing encounter between four Olympic swimmers and armed assailants early in Sunday morning in Rio de Janeiro.
American swimmers Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger, and Gunnar Bentz were leaving a party at the France House, to which they were invited by Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira, when their taxi was pulled over by burglars impersonating police officers.
“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 NBC’s Billy Bush. “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.
“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.’ He took our money, he took my wallet — he left my cell phone, he left my credentials.”
The IOC initially denied the reports, saying that the USOC had talked to Lochte and told them that it was “absolutely not true.” The denial from the IOC came after Lochte’s mom Ileana, who is in Rio, told several reporters of the “terrifying” incident. The USOC and Lochte both later confirmed the reports.
Earlier this week, Lochte won a gold medal in the 800 free relay, which was his 12th Olympic medal. That’s the second-most among all swimmers globally behind only Michael Phelps.
The taxi driver should have known that these weren’t cops, thus he wouldn’t have stopped the taxi for them. And even if he did, Lochte and the others would have insisted that he “go” and get away. You don’t just stop your car for someone flashing a badge. Therefore, I don’t believe that the incident really happened. Not sure why Lochte would make it up, but interesting that the IOC denied the story at first. How do you explain that cell phones were NOT taken? The refusal to get on the ground, then the gun to the head, then relenting to get on the ground, all seems intended to make the story plausible, but I still don’t believe it.
A terrorist bombed the Atlanta Olympics. Perp was a white American male with an anti-abortion, anti-gay agenda. 2 died and several were injured. Build that wall tho!
This situation has now become a New Yorker cartoon:
http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/monday-august-15th-swimmer-robbery?intcid=mod-latest
thats a funny one
Why have it not been on the news on TV.That is descusting and I am sorry to hear about it.
Beijing – 3 people stabbed – 2 Americans and their Chinese tour guide. Todd Bachman died. Todd was the father of American athlete Elisabeth Bachman and father-in-law of the Team USA’s mens Volleyball coach.
USOC: For once give it a rest with your p.r. b.s. and admit that your venue has had a heck of a lot of problems, including for athlete safety on a number of levels.
You could never hear people who actually travel the world talking bad about countries they visited. It is always people who never left their county.
I lived in Brazil for a year. Trust me, it’s a dump and a half. The nice places in Brazil are where there no people trashing the place. Littering is a national pastime, right behind soccer.
same goes in India where i have lived 3 years . Littering is one national sport with Cricket
Same for Cairo. Some of the most litter filled areas are right by garbage cans – just can’t be bothered.
They probably just hated Lochte’s green hair.
Hey, the diving pool is the only thing dyed green around here.
Lochte’s hair is…blue? At least that’s the claim, I’m colorblind so I’ll leave that to the real pros.
Locte’s hair has actually turned greenish.
It was silverish blue when in Atlanta, but anyone who’s peroxide their can tell you that you can’t swim in chlorinated pool if you don’t want your peroxide-hair turn green.
That’s apparently what happened in the diving pool. They ran out of specific chemical to clean the pool and keep the ph at 7.6 level so someone decided to use hydrogen peroxide.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/13/sports/olympics/rio-schedule-michael-phelps-medals.html?_r=0