Few events outside of the venues at the 2016 Rio Olympic games have drawn as much attention as the story of American swimmers Ryan Lochte and Jimmy Feigen allegedly being held up at gun-point in the Olympic Village.
However, it appears that Brazilian authorities have a few more questions about the eventsm and a judge has ordered both Lochte and Feigen to stay in the country as the investigation continues.
According to a USA Today report, Judge Keyla Blank said there were inconsistencies in the testimony of the two swimmers, who said they were robbed at gunpoint after a late night out.
That has led to her ordering both to stay in the country, but there’s just one problem with that — Lochte is already back in the United States, per his agent.
At issue appears to be the timing of the alleged robbery and when the swimmers actually arrived from France House at the Olympic Village. Blank has seen video footage of the two arriving back at the village and seemingly joking around and not reacting as if they had just been robbed at gun-point.
Since the story broke, the alleged armed robbery has served as part of the narrative over the ineffectual security and horrible conditions surrounding the 2016 Rio Olympic games.
The issues started with this statement from USOC about what allegedly happened to four swimmers as they took a taxi back to the Olympic Village:
The four swimmers told USOC officials that they had been taking a taxi home early Sunday from France House when “their taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who demanded the athletes’ money and other personal belongings.”
That makes things really interestingm because according to USA Today’s report, the judge saw something completely different:
According to the documents, she watched surveillance video of the swimmers arriving at the athletes’ village. “They arrived with their psychological and physical integrity unperturbed,” she wrote, also noting that the swimmers appeared to be joking with each other and did not appear to be upset.
It has made the judge and Brazilian police suspicious and wanting more answers from the four swimmers involved. The police went to try and seize passports on Thursday, but the United States swim team had already moved out of its digs in the Olympic Village.
An United States spokesman gave the following statement about the whereabouts of the athletes:
“As part of our standard security protocol, we do not make athlete travel plans public and therefore cannot confirm the athletes’ current location,” Patrick Sandusky said. “We will continue to cooperate with Brazilian authorities.”
Authorities clearly don’t believe the athletes’ story so far, and have not found any evidence to support the claims at this point. Perhaps the biggest issue is the inability to find the taxi driver or other witnesses to the alleged incident in a rather public spot around the Olympic Village.
Without further answers this case appears to have some more crazy twists and turns in it.
