U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte has confirmed that he was robbed at gunpoint in Brazil on Saturday night.
Reports surfaced on Sunday indicating that Lochte was on his way to a party with Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira and at least one U.S. teammate when the group was robbed by men holding guns and knives. The IOC at first said the reports were “absolutely not true,” but Lochte himself has since confirmed that the incident took place.
Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte confirms to NBC's Billy Bush that he and three other swimmers were robbed at gunpoint last night in Rio.
— Nadine Comerford (@NComerfordTV) August 14, 2016
It’s unclear why there has been such confusion over whether Lochte was actually robbed, especially after his mother provided details about what happened. Ileana Lochte said she was told by her son that his wallet was taken but he was unharmed during the “terrifying” incident. You can read more of Lochte’s mother’s comments here.
A Snapchat video that was preserved by TMZ shows Lochte and Pereira at a nightclub on Saturday night:
Lochte and the other swimmers are fortunate that they were not harmed. In addition to some embarrassing issues with the actual planning of the Olympcis (like this green pool), videos over the past two weeks have shown petty thieves robbing tourists in the streets. Rio clearly is not the safest of places to be at the moment.
