Four US Olympic gold medal swimmers who said they
had been robbed in Rio de Janeiro were not victims of crime, the head of the
city's civil police says.
Fernando Veloso told reporters that one or more of
the men had instead vandalised part of a petrol station and then offered to pay
for the damage.
The Americans paid and left after armed security
guards intervened, he said.
One guard had justifiably drawn his gun after one of
the swimmers began behaving erratically, Mr Veloso added.
Three of the swimmers remain in Brazil. The fourth,
Ryan Lochte, returned to the US on Monday.
Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were prevented from
leaving Brazil at Rio de Janeiro airport on Wednesday night and have since been
questioned by police. Team-mate James Feigen has also remained in Brazil and
says he is co-operating with the authorities.
The swimmers, who have repeatedly changed their
accounts of what happened, could "in theory" face charges of giving
false testimony and vandalism, Mr Veloso told reporters during a news
conference at Rio police headquarters.
Mr Lochte was "very angry because he was
intoxicated" during the incident, he said.
The people of Rio were unhappy to see the reputation
of their city damaged, Mr Veloso said, adding: "We are dealing with
important public figures who influence others and should know how to comport
themselves... An apology would be welcomed."
Earlier, a Rio 2016 spokesman had tried to make
light of the case.
"These kids tried to have fun, they tried to
represent their country to the best of their abilities," Mario Andrada
told reporters.
"They competed under gigantic pressure. Let's
give these kids a break. Sometime you take actions that you later regret.
"They had fun, they made a mistake, life goes
on."
bbc.com
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