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Rio Is Punishing American Olympians For Being Victims
- Three Olympic swimmers are being detained in Rio due to an investigation into a robbery claim that they say they are the victims of.
- So far the local police have been able to find no proof that the robbery even happened.
- The swimmers are also not sticking to their original claim and are now changing key details in their recollection of the event.
- One of the swimmers who claimed to be there, Ryan Lochte, made it back to America before they confiscated his passport.
A handful of Olympic swimmers recently gave a report that they were robbed at gunpoint by a group of individuals who were dressed up as police officers and heavily armed. Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz, Ryan Lochte, and Jimmy Feigen all claim to have been there when the robbery happened. Well, now the police of Rio de Janeiro want some answers. They removed Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz from their flights home to answer some questions about the robbery. The worst part is, they aren't allowed to leave.
Feigen also said that he was approached by local authorities and was told not to leave Brazil until he answered some questions about the investigation. Unfortunately, for the police of Rio, Ryan Lochte made it back to the United States before the authorities could seize his passport.
The three were reportedly supposed to answer questions on Thursday.
Apparently, the local authorities have had a hard time validating that the claim is true. They have said that the swimmer's story has continuously changed, and the four “victims” could not give key information when first asked about the incident. Now, they are questioning whether the robbery really did, indeed, happen.
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Lochte had claimed that he was with Conger, Bentz, and Feigen when they were robbed. He claimed that they were in a taxi heading back to the athlete's village when the taxi was stopped by men with police badges. He also claimed that a gun was held to his head during the robbery.
Yet, now Lochte has gone against a few of the details of his claim. He now says that the car was not stopped by the men with police badges, but that they were robbed when the car stopped for gas.
Lochte also claims that no authority officials told him to remain in the country until questioning was over.
Lauer said, “He stopped me quickly and strongly denied that. He said, ‘That's absolutely not the case. I wouldn't make up a story like this, nor would the others. As a matter of fact, we all feel it makes us look bad. We're victims in this and we're happy that we're safe.'”
America also seems to be putting their hands into the situation. Shortly after the swimmers were “confiscated” at the airport and told they could not leave, representatives from the U.S. Consulate arrived, by plane, at the airport.
Lochte's father, Steve, told the Associated Press that his son had called him on Tuesday after landing back in the United States. He claimed that his son said he was going to pick up his car and then go buy a wallet to replace the one that was stolen.
Steve Lochte said, “I'm just happy he's safe. It was an unfortunate experience for him and the other three. I don't know what all the controversy is. They were basically taken out of the taxi and robbed. The main thing is he's very lucky that he's safe and that all they got was his cash and wallet.”
Another odd fact about the robbery is that after it happened none of the four swimmers called the police. The local authorities only began an investigation after they saw it on the news. So far, the authorities have not been able to find their taxi driver for that night or any eyewitnesses to the robbery.
Apparently, the Olympians have claimed that they were intoxicated when the robbery occurred so they cannot remember the color of the taxi or what time the incident took place.
Steve Lochte said, “Why would anybody fabricate anything? It's just ridiculous.”
On Sunday, Ryan Lochte described the event to NBC's “Today” show. When talking about the robbery he said:
“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. 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.”
Ryan also claims that the swimmers didn't call the local authorities because they themselves did not want to get in trouble. Now, the question is: Why would they have gotten in trouble? What were they doing that made them fear that possibility? Either way, the ended up getting in trouble, didn't they?