Junior swimmer Jack Conger and Team USA swimmer Gunnar Bentz were pulled off their flights from Rio de Janeiro to the United States by Brazilian authorities Wednesday night, according to the Associated Press.
BREAKING: USOC says American swimmers Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were removed from their flight to the US by Brazilian authorities.
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 18, 2016
Conger and Bentz, along with Texas-Ex Jimmy Feigen and Ryan Lochte, claimed to have been robbed by armed individuals posing as police outside the Olympic village on Saturday night. According to the New York Times, police became skeptical of the swimmers’ testimony after failing to find witnesses or evidence of the robbery.
A Brazilian judge issued an order to seize the passports of Lochte and Feigen Wednesday after viewing footage of the swimmers returning the Olympic village.
“You can see the supposed victims arriving without signs of being physically or psychologically shaken, even joking amongst themselves,” judge Keyla Blanc de Cnop said in a statement.
The United States Olympic Committee said in a statement that all Team USA swimmers have left the Olympic village. Additionally, Lochte is back in the United States and rejects the idea that the swimmers produced a false testimony, according to his lawyer Jeff Ostrow.
“This happened the way he described it,” Ostrow said. “Ryan was a hundred percent cooperative and fully available when they reached out to us for an interview. It doesn’t behoove Ryan and anyone else to make up a story.”
Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee, said in a statement they are “gathering more information” about the detained swimmers.