Rio Scandals: Is It Ready, Will The Place Kill You & More!

[Kromm]

53 minutes ago, Matt K said:

Honestly the security footage leak is fishy, but even if true (which seems likely) people have all kind of different reactions when in a situation like that and joking is one of them (especially if drunk). 

The mere existence of the leak is just as suspicious as what we see on it.

45 minutes ago, Dots And Stripes said:

I believe that the Judge who ordered Lochte and the other guy to surrender their passports had been presented with the security video. I think the "leak" to the Daily Mail came well after that, so not really suspicious, IMO.

Depends on what you mean by suspicious.  At the very least it means that the security forces at Olympic Village are corrupt (since they clearly sold the tape). 

[Kromm]

22 minutes ago, sab85 said:

The Brazilian authorities seem to be going off two pieces of 'evidence' (which is weird to say in a case where the greatest crime is maybe a false police report) that make little sense to me. Not being able to find the taxi driver doesn't seem unusual in a huge city and it certainly wouldn't be unheard of for the driver to be in on it in case like this. As for the stories not lining up, witness/victim stories are notoriously unreliable especially when you're dealing with people who may be drunk/high.

It also plays as really weird to me that they wouldn't know (or might pretend to not know) that Lochte had left 2 days earlier. I mean I realize they aren't the US, but... are we really supposed to believe that the Rio police/courts don't have access to customs/border patrol?  How can you order someone's passport seized without talking to the people who monitor passports in your country?

[Kromm]

So the latest is that two of the swimmers were literally pulled off their plane, right?  And Feigen, the third one, called a reporter earlier today and said he was safe, but not where he was (other than "in Brazil").  The United States Olympic Committee acted like they knew where Feigen was, but wouldn't say where.

Is that the latest?

[tanyak]

OK, it sounds like people do know where the two other swimmers are.  Some things I read made it sound like they were pulled off the plane and disappeared into thin air.  And I thought Ryan was back in Charlotte, but it seems like he's being dodgy about his whereabouts. Probably a smart idea. 

What a crazy story.

[BlackberryJam]

The only reason for Ryan to be vague about his whereabouts is to avoid media attention. Brazil isn't going to even try to extradite him for possibly filing a false report. And that takes eternity under The Hague convention anyway.

[Matt K]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2016/08/17/armour-can-us-get-swimmer-out-brazil-olympics-ryan-lochte-jimmy-feigen/88903580/

A pretty harsh article but honestly Rio brought it on themselves.  Glad to know that Feigan is safe so I can call it a night without worrying about this.

[galaxygirl76]

I cannot believe they are saying people threw rocks at a bus that clearly had bullet holes in it. 

[Matt K]

Just to add some more perspective before I go to bed a pretty interesting article about a ride along with the homicide squad., http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/17/americas/rio-brazil-homicide-police/index.html

Apparently about 1% of the population of Rio is killed every year (60,000 murders/year with a pop of over 6 million).  And I'll leave it at that.

Edited August 18, 2016 by Matt K

[ParadoxLost]

Just because I think they are doing this to change their PR.

http://time.com/4421332/rio-olympics-new-zealand-athlete/

New Zealand (not Olympic) athlete kidnapped and robbed by Rio police 13 days before start of Olympics. 

This link will take you to two more stories where Spanish Olympians and Australian Olympians were robbed/assaulted in Rio.

So its not like Lochte is an isolated incident, just the most famous to date.

Edited August 18, 2016 by ParadoxLost

[azshadowwalker]

It would not surprise me if Lochte et.al. are completely full of shit. Living as close as I do to the Mexican border, I have seen my share of white boys from the States act like assholes, thinking they can get away with murder in a country full of brown people, then make shit up to smear the country and its people when they get caught doing something shady. I am always suspicious of wealthy white Americans who start talking shit about Latin American countries. 

If an athlete from another country made accusations which needed further investigation, then hightailed out of the US rather than answer questions, I can only imagine the reaction. 

As for dangerous counties, I guess the bomb in Atlanta was just a minor inconvenience...

Edited August 18, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[stealinghome]

Quote

It would not surprise me if Lochte et.al. are completely full of shit. Living as close as I do to the Mexican border, I have seen my share of white boys from the States act like assholes, thinking they can get away with murder in a country full of brown people, then make shit up to smear the country and its people when they get caught doing something shady. I am always suspicious of wealthy white Americans who start talking shit about Latin American countries. 

I totally understand what you're saying, and I don't at all disagree that I could see Lochte being that asshole. But given what we know right now, the baffling thing to me is that Lochte et al hadn't been caught doing anything shady at all. If they were doing something shady, they would have gotten away with it if they hadn't blown the whistle on themselves via the police report! Why would you invent a story like this when you were going to get away with whatever illegal/questionable activity you were doing? Why would you draw attention to yourself like that? That literally makes no sense.

I mean, we all know Lochte is as dumb as a box of rocks, but that's a new level of idiocy. That's like...amoebas have more critical thinking skills.

Edited August 18, 2016 by stealinghome

[Matt K]

7 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

It would not surprise me if Lochte et.al. are completely full of shit. Living as close as I do to the Mexican border, I have seen my share of white boys from the States act like assholes, thinking they can get away with murder in a country full of brown people, then make shit up to smear the country and its people when they get caught doing something shady. I am always suspicious of wealthy white Americans who start talking shit about Latin American countries. 

If an athlete from another country made accusations which needed further investigation, then hightailed out of the US rather than answer questions, I can only imagine the reaction. 

As for dangerous counties, I guess the bomb in Atlanta was just a minor inconvenience...

I have to strongly disagree with this.  Civilized countries use things like evidence and not merely conjecture before arresting people.  Rio is very dangerous city and has shown they are a very corrupt one as well.  Nobody fled the country, Lochte left just like most of the other swimmers.  No one asked them to stay for further "interviews", which is a crock of shit.  And I don't like the victim blaming going on either.

[catray]

The AP tweeted that the swimmers who are still in Rio have to apparently stay in Brazil until they testify about the robbery... But no one has been arrested for the crime? Trials can take months! This seems like overkill-- maybe they mean give statements, because I think only Lochte and Feigan gave statements when it happened. 

 

Personally, even if they were doing something dumb, they didn't really stand to gain anything by lying. My guess is that the robbery happened but maybe some details were conflated or confused due to alcohol (and they were out late partying) and it's grown out of control so this is a weird overreaction/damage control by Brazil. 

Edited August 18, 2016 by catray

[mehtotheworld]

14 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

As for dangerous counties, I guess the bomb in Atlanta was just a minor inconvenience...

That's kind of a baffling comparison. The situations are obviously different, and I would assume most wouldn't appreciate the comparison, as it seems to dismiss very real problems.

[sab85]

1 hour ago, Matt K said:

Just to add some more perspective before I go to bed a pretty interesting article about a ride along with the homicide squad., http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/17/americas/rio-brazil-homicide-police/index.html

Apparently about 1% of the population of Rio is killed every year (60,000 murders/year with a pop of over 6 million).  And I'll leave it at that.

It's 60,000 murders for the entire country of Brazil (about 200 million people) not for the city of Rio. That would be a murder rate of 1,000/100,000. The current murder capital of the world (Caracas) has a murder rate of about 120/100,000.

Edited August 18, 2016 by sab85

[calliope1975]

At this point, Rio is making itself look bad. If Lochte and Company are lying, it would just be one additional (false) story added to the multiple verified robberies, shootings, and poor management of these games that would have blown over and been forgotten by the time the closing ceremonies ended. Detaining them for a false report seems like overkill at best. If they're telling the truth, this is the height of victim blaming and poor decision making on the part of Rio authorities. Either way, they've now brought a ton more international scrutiny to something that would have been a footnote of the games.

[ParadoxLost]

6 hours ago, catray said:

The AP tweeted that the swimmers who are still in Rio have to apparently stay in Brazil until they testify about the robbery... But no one has been arrested for the crime? Trials can take months! This seems like overkill-- maybe they mean give statements, because I think only Lochte and Feigan gave statements when it happened. 

This leads to the other question...  Every story says the judge ruled on Lochte and Feigen to have there passports held.  No mention of the others.  The question floating around last night was why were the other two swimmers detained and did they really have a judge's order for those two?  So if they didn't actually make statements yet, then the reasoning would be they wanted to hold 2 swimmers in Brazil for making suspected false statements and 2 swimmers in Brazil for making no statements.

[galaxygirl76]

I'm on my phone and don't know how to link a story,  but i just read that while out in Rio, a  British athlete got held at gun point by criminals. Story came from The Guardian.  

[Constantinople]

This case should make an interesting contrast to the usual run-of-the-mill drug smuggling stories for Locked Up Abroad.

[Dots And Stripes]

7 hours ago, Matt K said:

I have to strongly disagree with this.  Civilized countries use things like evidence and not merely conjecture before arresting people.  Rio is very dangerous city and has shown they are a very corrupt one as well.  Nobody fled the country, Lochte left just like most of the other swimmers.  No one asked them to stay for further "interviews", which is a crock of shit.  And I don't like the victim blaming going on either.

Putting aside callin Brazil uncivilized, the Brazillian authorities do have evidence which supports the idea that the swimmers lied to police, the conflicting statements being I think the biggest piece. We allow people to be arrested based on probable cause, which is a lot lower of a standard than what is needed to convict. A lot is left to prosecutorial discretion as to whether it is worth pursuing criminal charges for something like a false statement. It's also worth nothing that the swimmers have been detained, not arrested. 

I'm sure someone besides me could speak more eloquently as to the differences between criminal law in the U.S. And Brazil.  

[proserpina65]

On one of the morning shows today, there was a reference to Brazilian authorities not wanting this incident to ruin Rio's reputation.  I hate to tell them, but that ship sailed with the robberies and assaults of officials and athletes BEFORE the Games even started.

Quote

 the Brazillian authorities do have evidence which supports the idea that the swimmers lied to police, the conflicting statements being I think the biggest piece.

Conflicting statements happen all the time with witnesses, especially if the victims/witnesses might have been under the influence.  They would warrant getting further statements from those involved by requesting additional interviews, something the Brazilian authorities apparently did not do, not trying to take their passports and prevent them from leaving the country.  Rio's reputation was already way in the crapper before this incident even happened; this is not making them look better.

Edited August 18, 2016 by proserpina65

[Wildcard]

Not that anyone following boxing should be surprised.

http://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/multiple-olympic-boxing-judges-dismissed-in-wake-of-corruption-allegations/

[galaxygirl76]

I feel very strongly that taking passports and taking people in custody for conflicting statements is a gross over reaction in this case.

This mess is making Rio look really bad and you know that this would have not gotten this kind of attention if there were less known names involved than Ryan freaking Lochte. 

[proserpina65]

Just now, galaxygirl76 said:

I feel very strongly that taking passports and taking people in custody for conflicting statements is a gross over reaction in this case.

This mess is making Rio look really bad and you know that this would have not gotten this kind of attention if there were less known names involved than Ryan freaking Lochte. 

Who'd have ever believed that it would be possible for an Olympic host city to end up looking worse than Sochi?

[FrenchCheese]

I don't know if Lochte is lying or if Brazilian authorities are trying to cover Rio reputation. But for those asking why would the athletes lie? 

They went out and were late to the Village and were afraid of being in troubles, it seems good enough for me. They were drunk and in potential trouble so that it doesn't seem too far fetched that they come up with a stupid lie. In France we have a story like that. A rugby player got injured (black eye and broken nose I think) during the night after an international game (that is called third half in rugby and it is a small party with the players from both teams). With those injuries he was not able to play the next international game. Afraid to get in trouble with the coaches he starts saying to everyone that he got attacked by locals supporters (New Zealand) when coming back to the hotel at midnight. Of course, it was followed by outrage in France, and New Zealand police got involved. And it appears that the guy was lying through his teeth since police found pretty easily that he was fine coming back in the hotel at a much more later hour than the official midnight and looking very drunk. 

He end up telling another story about being drunk and falling on his bedside table. After the injury he called the team doctor to be checked. And that is when he decided to lie because he was too afraid too admit that he got drunk and injured. But he said at that time he did not expect to be taken that seriously (drunk rugby player at third half is a known story) and thus he didn't think it was a bad idea. And once the lie was made official it was difficult for him to backtrack. 

 

For the passport holding it is a very very common thing to do with tourists involved in police matter in the whole world (even France or USA). Brazil is not worse than any other country on that. If the passport holding last more than 1 week I will change my stance as it is only a small robbery we are talking about (or a false police report). But for the moment, making sure that  people involved stay in the country is not (unfortunately for the 3 non Lochte) uncommon.

Edited August 18, 2016 by FrenchCheese

[GinnyMars]

11 hours ago, Kromm said:

His passport had to be checked to leave the country on a commercial flight, so it makes me suspicious of a system that didn't even seem to know he was gone.  So is massive incompetence the alternative perhaps?

Of course they knew he was gone, of course they're competent. What I think happened is that they're - rightly- quite sick of all the Brazil-bashing happening all over the place, and that was one false information too many, so they decided to call them out very publicly on it.

11 hours ago, Kromm said:

So how about this. Lochte and the others, despite being men in their 20s and 30s and not teenage boys, thought it would be funny to make up a fake robbery. Then they reported it to the police, but not to the US Olympic committee (which is why there were those contradictory statements).

From what I understand, they did not. They told family members, who went to the media with it, and then the police came asking questions and it snowballed from there. I'm pretty sure they lied to cover something up, and then didn't know when to stop.

***

I have to say, Americans bending over backwards to defend their fellow citizens and blame Brazil for everything ever is not a good look. A lot of people have really shown their asses before and during those Games.

[windsprints]

2 hours ago, galaxygirl76 said:

I'm on my phone and don't know how to link a story,  but i just read that while out in Rio, a  British athlete got held at gun point by criminals. Story came from The Guardian.  

The story is all over the news now.  Here's a link: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-rio-summer-olympics/british-athlete-robbed-olympics-officials-say-n633446

[Daisy]

22 hours ago, Arynm said:

Maybe they were drunk? Or maybe there was a language barrier? I don't see the benefit in them lying about being robbed at gunpoint. It doesn't make sense to me

I don't know..
but this is really quite soap opera-esque.

Here's the breakdown so far courtesy of the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-37115680

I think the kicker is the film showing that the things stolen were actually in the swimmers possession when they checked back in to the Olympic Village. 

[Daisy]

ABC is also saying there is now video of Lochte breaking down a gas-station door and fighting with a security guard.

[mightysparrow]

11 minutes ago, GinnyMars said:

Of course they knew he was gone, of course they're competent. What I think happened is that they're - rightly- quite sick of all the Brazil-bashing happening all over the place, and that was one false information too many, so they decided to call them out very publicly on it.

From what I understand, they did not. They told family members, who went to the media with it, and then the police came asking questions and it snowballed from there. I'm pretty sure they lied to cover something up, and then didn't know when to stop.

***

I have to say, Americans bending over backwards to defend their fellow citizens and blame Brazil for everything ever is not a good look. A lot of people have really shown their asses before and during those Games.

I agree.  What made me suspicious is that Lochte and his crew had no problem boasting about how cool they were during an armed robbery to the media but had no interest in reporting it to the police until the police came to them.  How stupid (or over-privileged) do you have be to think you could get away with something like that?   Those guys were well aware of Rio's crime problem and thought it would just be accepted as truth, especially since they are famous White guys in a country full of Brown people.

I'm not surprised that Lochte left his friends holding the bag.  He's in the States now.  He should fess up so his friends can go home.

[Arynm]

5 minutes ago, Daisy said:

ABC is also saying there is now video of Lochte breaking down a gas-station door and fighting with a security guard.

Well shit. That doesn't bode well for the guys story and the truthfulness of it

ETA: It doesn't specifically say Lochte was the one, just a swimmer, to be clear. So they were at the gas station where the robbery allegedly happened, still not sure what happened after that.

Edited August 18, 2016 by Arynm
info

[Daisy]

Just now, Arynm said:

Well shit. That doesn't bode well for the guys story and the truthfulness of it.

 

The moral of the story: Don't lie to your mother. 

[pennben]

I just saw that on twitter, although what I saw just said one of them had done that, not specifying Lochte.  I think  all would be well served holding fire against Brazil for their actions detaining the swimmers at this point, given that the story given by the swimmers may be unravelling.

[Ohwell]

I just read that a British Olympian was robbed at gunpoint.  

Even if one doesn't believe Lochte and the other swimmers, no one can deny that there have been robberies even before the Olympics started, and that Rio is a dangerous place.  (FWIW, I'd say the same thing about Baltimore.)  

I'll be glad when these Olympics are over because I'm sick of Booing Brazilians and the country sucks.

[kitcloudkicker]

49 minutes ago, Daisy said:

ABC is also saying there is now video of Lochte breaking down a gas-station door and fighting with a security guard.

Here's the video

[GinnyMars]

1 hour ago, Ohwell said:

no one can deny that there have been robberies even before the Olympics started, and that Rio is a dangerous place.

If Rio is soooo dangerous, why aren't the federations/olympic committees advising their uber-rich athletes to walk around with bodyguards? Or if trained bodyguards are too expensive, at least hire a pool of local guides to go out with the athletes, especially if they're planning to imbibe. Either Rio is the Wild West and you take the necessary measures, or you admit that things aren't that bad and millions of Cariocas are surviving every year. Most of the people who run into problems messed up in the first place.

Source: lived in Brazil as a white first worlder, survived. It's really not that hard.

1 hour ago, Ohwell said:

I'll be glad when these Olympics are over because I'm sick of Booing Brazilians and the country sucks.

You always have the option of turning off your television.

Edited August 18, 2016 by GinnyMars

[Nidratime]

I still don't understand the story. If Ryan was breaking down a door to the bathroom and fighting with a security guard, then why wasn't that reported? Where were the police? How did they get back to their lodgings and why can't the police find the taxi that took them?

Edited August 18, 2016 by Nidratime

[selkie]

7 minutes ago, GinnyMars said:

If Rio is soooo dangerous, why aren't the federations/olympic committees advising their uber-rich athletes to walk around with bodyguards?

There was apparently a strong recommendation from the USOC that the athletes not leave the village. I'm assuming that the way it's structured is that it's up to individual US sports to decide if there's an outright ban. The Australians have been somewhat quietly declaring more and more areas outside the Village off limits for members of their delegation as more incidents are reported. 

It's a contrast to London, where the most dangerous thing outside the village was remembering to look in the right direction when crossing the street and a lot of athletes were exploring the city once they'd finished the competition. I remember the Fab Five pictures sightseeing in the city in 2012 and a bunch of the swimming post grads stayed until the closing ceremonies before heading off on vacation in other parts of Europe. This time around, it's Simone Manuel's pictures of the airport on Tuesday since most of USA Swimming had previously planned to decamp to the States once open water finished up. 

[mtlchick]

The more the story unfolds, the more "Sex Idiot Ryan Lotche from 30 Rock" seems a bit more accurate. More on the idiot side of things.  Apparently he tweaked some facts with his interview with Lauer last night.  Now this? 

Clearly something is not being told from the swimmers' side of things. 

[Superpole2000]

I guess the opportunity to make a genetic super-baby inside the Olympic Village just wasn't appealing enough for the US swimmers. Exploring Rio at 4 am probably isn't the wisest move.

As for the storytelling...the Brazilian police know how much scrutiny surrounds the games. It's tough to believe they would pick this two week period to engage in a conspiracy to obtain someone's wallet.

[galaxygirl76]

Multiple people have been robbed,  a bus got shot at,  that crazy story before the start of the Olympics about an athlete being kidnapped by fake police officers, stuff bring stolen out of the Australian rooms,  yeah this place screams that it's safe.  

[mehtotheworld]

My reaction if Lochte's story is garbage:

I was hoping we could get through an Olympics without an American embarrassing themselves. Hope Solo's comments now seem tame in comparison.

[Ohwell]

21 minutes ago, GinnyMars said:

You always have the option of turning off your television.

I know you're being sarcastic but that's actually what I've done numerous times.  I haven't turned off the television but I have changed the channel. 

[selkie]

11 minutes ago, Superpole2000 said:

I guess the opportunity to make a genetic super-baby inside the Olympic Village just wasn't appealing enough for the US swimmers. Exploring Rio at 4 am probably isn't the wisest move.

Even with the stamina of the young, hard to keep an all day orgy going without taking the kind of performance-enhancing substances that led to Lashawn Merritt serving a two year ban for doping. (DHEA shows up in a number of 'male enhancement' products sold over the counter in the USA) 

[maraleia]

Here's the thing. I believe people when they say they've been raped or robbed or other horrible things but Ryan is the case of the boy who cried wolf because his past behavior has tainted his image.

Also, Hope Solo should be cut from the team based on her off the playing fleid actions alone not to mention what she said in Rio.

[windsprints]

Quote

Here's the thing. I believe people when they say they've been raped or robbed or other horrible things but Ryan is the case of the boy who cried wolf because his past behavior has tainted his image.

I don't follow swimming other than watching Phelps and Ledecky's races so I knew next to nothing about Ryan until today. I believed the story because I also generally believe people in cases like this because I can't imagine making it up.  The comment upthread about them being believed because there are brown people in Rio was downright insulting. I would have believed any athlete of any color from any country.

Edited August 18, 2016 by windsprints

[Daisy]

Here's more. 
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/other/olympics/2016/08/brazil_police_official_lochte_made_up_story_about_robbery
 

Also they are breaking the news on the radio
They were peeing on the wall while the owner was pleading for them to use the washroom. They had to pay for damages. 

how did THAT translate into
"I was robbed and had a gun pulled to my head."

[Nidratime]

Well, why would Lochte be breaking down the washroom door if the owner was pleading for them to use it? 

[tanyak]

Oh, shit.

Ryan!!!! If this is true, this is ridiculous. Ryan is waaaaay to old for this shit. The two young ones at least have the excuse that they are still in college. I barely have words.

[KenyaJ]

I can't get over the official statement from IOC spokesman Mario Andrada, saying "Let's give these kids a break." Really? Lochte is 32. And if it had been the US men's 4x100 relay team who had done this, would anyone be calling them "kids" and shrugging this off as harmless fun? We'd be hearing nonstop about the thugs who caused mayhem at a gas station.