Rio Olympics: 2 US swimmers pulled of plane in Rio in robbery confusion
American Olympic swimmers Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were pulled off their flight from Rio de Janeiro to the United States overnight and have been ordered to stay in Brazil until they give police a statement over an alleged robbery.
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The athletes and two other swimmers, Ryan Lochte and James Feigen, reported being robbed at gunpoint early Sunday in a taxi bound for the Olympic Village by individuals posing as armed police officers, the US Olympic Committee (USOC) said.
The USOC told CNN that Brazilian authorities had removed the swimmers from the US-bound plane on Wednesday night and that they had since been released, with the understanding that they would continue discussing the incident on Thursday.
Brazilian authorities said they have questions about what actually happened that night and that they have concerns over inconsistencies in different accounts of the events.
Conflicting accounts?
The robbery -- during which a thief was said to have put a gun to Lochte's forehead -- reportedly occurred after the athletes left a party at the French hospitality house. Lochte told Lauer from NBC on Wednesday, however, that the gunman pointed the gun at him, but it wasn't against his head. NBC is broadcasting the Games in Rio.
An attorney for Lochte, Jeff Ostrow, brushed off the discrepancy, saying the gun was pointed near his head, not against it, adding the difference was just "a matter of inches."
Civil police said the case attracted their attention because the victims said their phones and watches hadn't been stolen -- items that are typically targeted by thieves in crime-plagued Rio.
Brazilian Judge Keyla Blanc De Cnop said the athletes' jocular behavior upon arrival at the Olympic Village -- combined with the inconsistencies in their statements -- led police to question the veracity of their claim.
The judge noted that Lochte had said a single robber approached the athletes and demanded all their money (400 real, or $124), while Feigen's statement said a number of robbers targeted the athletes but only one was armed.
Ostrow denied that the accounts significantly differed, telling CNN that the stories of all four victims line up "95%."