U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte and three other Olympic swimmers were robbed by fake police officers in Rio de Janeiro, Lochte confirmed after conflicting reports surfaced Sunday.
In an interview with “Today’s” Billy Bush, Lochte confirmed that he and Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen were pulled over and held at gunpoint. Lochte and the other swimmers left the incident unharmed.
“We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge — a police badge — no lights, no nothing,” Lochte recalled. “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 cell phone, he left my credentials.”
International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams called the report “absolutely not true” earlier Sunday. Lochte’s mother, IIeana Lochte, first broke the news to USA Today.
Lochte recently won gold in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
(SD-Agencies)
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