Is Ryan Lyin’ About Robbery in Rio?

18 Aug, 2016

The CCTV footage seems routine. Four swimmers, fresh from celebrating their final competitions, return to the Olympic village in the early hours of the morning. They pass through the metal detector, taking items from their pockets – possibly wallets and phones – as they go.

They appear relaxed. In the words of one Brazilian judge: “They arrived with their psychological and physical integrity unshaken.”

But this short, unremarkable clip is now at the centre of an Olympic mystery and a police investigation, because according to the four American swimmers – Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger, and Gunnar Bentz – they had just been robbed at gunpoint.

It is early Sunday afternoon, six or so hours after the swimmers are seen on CCTV. Citing Mr Lochte’s mother, USA Today and Fox Sports Australia report that four US athletes have been robbed on their way back from partying at Club France, part of the French hospitality area.

According to the reports, the swimmers got in a taxi for the Olympic village at about 0400. Speaking to NBC News hours after the story hits the headlines, Mr Lochte gives a vivid account of what happened next:

“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 cellphone, he left my credentials.”

Mark Adams, a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee, tells the press that the swimmers’ account is “absolutely not true”.

Then Mr Adams retracts his statement, saying he received incorrect information from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). The USOC puts out a statement confirming that the swimmers were robbed.

The swimmers do not report the incident to police or to the USOC, and officers in Rio only get involved after seeing it reported on TV.

By this point, two of the four have made public statements about the robbery.

Posting on Instagram, Mr Lochte writes: “While it is true that my teammates and I were the victims of a robbery early Sunday morning, what is most important is that we are safe and unharmed.”

Mr Bentz tweets: “We are all safe. Thank you for your love and support. P.S. the gold medal is safe.”

At this point, a police official tells the Associated Press that Mr Lochte and Mr Feigen are unable to give basic details and contradict each other’s stories.

Mr Lochte and Mr Feigen have told police they left Club France at about 0400 and took a taxi from a nearby petrol station. According to their account, they went straight from the club to the village – a journey of 30 to 40 minutes – with the robbery happening along the way.

But the CCTV footage clocks the swimmers returning to the village at 0656, nearly three hours after they leave the club.

Mr Lochte then slightly alters his account, telling NBC on Wednesday that the taxi was not pulled over but they were robbed while making a stop at a petrol station – and says the gun was not pointed directly at his forehead.

Police try and fail to find the taxi driver, or any other witnesses.

A Brazilian judge is sufficiently concerned that she orders Mr Lochte and Mr Feigen to surrender their passports. But when police turn up at the Olympic village on Wednesday the four men have already moved out, and Mr Lochte has already landed in the US.

Mr Feigen’s location is unknown, but Mr Conger and Mr Bentz are tracked down to a flight about to leave Rio. They are pulled off the plane for questioning. It later emerges that Mr Feigen is still in Brazil.

Lawyers for the athletes says they will not be allowed to leave Brazil until they are interviewed by police.

Story inconsistencies

• The Video: Surveillance footage taken as the team returned to Olympic village appears to show the swimmers passing valuables through a metal detector, despite telling police that items had been stolen.
• The Robbers: Jimmy Feigen said several robbers were there but that only one had a gun, however Ryan Lochte told Brazilian authorities that there was only one robber who targeted the group.
• The Gun: Mr Lochte initially told US media that the robber had placed a cocked pistol against his forehead, but in a later interview said that gun had only been pointed in his general vicinity.
• The Encounter: Mr Lochte first claimed that their taxi was pulled over, but later said that the car was already stationary at a petrol station when the robber approached.

BBC

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