Two U.S. swimmers taken off airplane
Judge questions Rio robbery story
In a new and dramatic twist to the story about four U.S. swimmers allegedly being robbed at gunpoint, Olympians Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were removed from their flight late Wednesday as they tried to leave Brazil, according to U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky.
Sandusky said more information was being gathered, but it is clear this story is not as simple as it sounded Sunday.
Conger and Bentz were being questioned by Brazilian authorities, NBC reported. Their flight was scheduled to leave at 9:10 p.m. local time.
When reached by phone at 4 p.m. local time, Bentz said he was at the airport and could not talk. “I have to go,” he said.
Lochte, Bentz, Conger and Jimmy Feigen said they were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday morning after leaving a party at France House.
A judge ruled earlier Wednesday that Lochte and Feigen were to turn over their passports and remain in Brazil. Lochte, however, is at home in the USA.
Judge Keyla Blank said she based her ruling on inconsistencies in the testimony of Lochte and Feigen.
Feigen is in Rio and said he’s cooperating with officials.
“I’m just trying to give Brazil what they need or what they want and get out of here,” Feigen told USA TODAY Sports during a telephone interview Wednesday night. “It’s a hassle. But I’m safe. Everything ’s fine.”
Also late Wednesday, NBC’s Matt Lauer said he had talked with Lochte, who described his original interview with Brazilian authorities as “casual, friendly and vague.”
Lochte told the network that police “did not question his truthfulness.” After the interview, Lochte said investigators thanked him and congratulated him on his performance in the pool.
Blank wrote in her filing that there were questions about a gap between when the swimmers said they left France House and arrived at the athletes village. The
swimmers said they departed France House about 4 a.m. Surveillance video showed they checked back in to the athletes village at 6:56 a.m., the judge wrote. Such a trip during earlymorning hours would take 30 to 40 minutes.
She also indicated that images from France House showed a different time of departure from the one the men alleged.
She said they did not appear to be physically or psychologically shaken by the alleged crime. “They arrived with their psychological and physical integrity unshaken,” she wrote, noting the swimmers appeared to be joking with each other and did not appear to be upset.
She watched surveillance video of the swimmers arriving at the athletes village.
The Brazilian judge wrote that she ordered the two swimmers’ passports seized and both men remain in Brazil because investigators needed more time to determine whether they were guilty of filing a false police report. Under Brazilian law, filing a false police report can lead to six months’ detention or a fine.
The USOC said police had further questions for the swimmers but that no athletes had been detained Wednesday morning.
“The swim team moved out of the village after their competition ended, so we were not able to make the athletes available,” Sandusky said in a statement.
Tuesday, Lochte told USA TODAY Sports he initially did not tell the USOC he and three other swimmers were victims of a robbery Sunday “because we were afraid we’d get in trouble.”