The Brazilian authorities have stopped US swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger from boarding a flight at Rio de Janeiro airport, the US Olympic Committee has confirmed.<\/p>\n
The two men were taken off a plane, bound for the US, for questioning late on Wednesday and released hours later.<\/p>\n
Two teammates – Ryan Lochte and James Feigen – were barred from leaving the country, but Lochte had already left.<\/p>\n
Police have queried their accounts of a robbery they reported in Rio on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The four swimmers said they had been robbed at gunpoint in a taxi in Rio.<\/p>\n
But police say their account of when they arrived at the Olympic village does not square with CCTV recordings.<\/p>\n
A statement from the US Olympic team said that Bentz and Conger “were released by local authorities with the understanding that they would continue their discussions about the incident on Thursday”.<\/p>\n
“James Feigen is also communicating with local authorities and intends to make further statements regarding the incident on Thursday as well,” said TeamUSA.<\/p>\n
Lochte’s lawyer told the BBC he got back to the US two days ago.<\/p>\n
“He arrived back before the judge issued anything,” said Jeffrey Ostrow.<\/p>\n
“He was never asked to remain for further investigation or for any other purpose after he met with Brazilian authorities after he gave a statement.”<\/p>\n
The swimmer’s Twitter account shows footage of him arriving back in the United States on Monday.<\/p>\n
Lochte is one of the most successful swimmers in history, with 12 Olympic medals and he once had his own reality television show in the US.<\/p>\n
In Rio, he swam in two events, winning gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay.<\/p>\n
Feigen, who told the San Antonio Express he is still in Brazil, won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay.<\/p>\n
Bentz competed in the 4x200m preliminaries, but not the final. He still received a gold medal after the US team’s win.
\nAccounts of what happened to the swimmers have been confusing from the beginning.<\/p>\n
Lochte first told US TV network NBC about it but International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said reports of the robbery were “absolutely not true”.<\/p>\n
The US Olympic Committee (USOC) later confirmed the swimmers’ accounts.<\/p>\n
Lochte himself told police that he and team mates Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger had all attended a party in the French Olympic team’s hospitality house on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
He said that during their return drive to the Olympic village, their cab was stopped by men posing as police officers.<\/p>\n
One of the men held a gun to his head, Lochte said, and robbed him of his money and personal belongings.<\/p>\n
But police investigating the case say they have found no evidence of the robbery. They also point to “inconsistencies” in the swimmers’ accounts.<\/p>\n
Lochte and Feigen told police they and their fellow swimmers had returned to the Olympic village at 04:00 local time (08:00 GMT).<\/p>\n
But CCTV recordings appear to show the swimmers returning to the Olympic village at 07:00 local time.<\/p>\n
Police say they have not been able to track down the driver who the swimmers said drove them back to the village.<\/p>\n
They also said that Feigen and Lochte gave different accounts of how many men robbed them.<\/p>\n
Investigators have requested a search warrant for the rooms the swimmers stayed in with a view to examining Feigen’s mobile phone.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Brazilian authorities have stopped US swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger from boarding a flight at Rio de Janeiro airport, the US Olympic Committee has confirmed. The two men were taken off a plane, bound for the US, for questioning late on Wednesday and released hours later. Two teammates – Ryan Lochte and James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":240251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[249],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n