MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
US Olympic swimmers fabricated robbery story to cover up a night of heavy drinking in Rio
The two U.S. swimmers who were abruptly taken off a plane and detained in Rio on Wednesday night have been allowed to leave the country and are headed for the United States. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesRussia is asking that the BRICS countries to withdraw from the IOC and create its own Olympic games.
Aug 19th, 2016 - 11:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0The matter will be discussed at the next summit.
Nonsense.
Aug 19th, 2016 - 12:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0IOC President is Putins best mate.
Russia is lucky to be at these olympics with the doping scandal
Aug 19th, 2016 - 12:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If Russia were banned by the IOC to participate in the Rio2016, Brazil would not accept. So you could bring the Olympics back to London.
Aug 19th, 2016 - 12:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 04
Aug 19th, 2016 - 01:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You must live at the bottom of a coal mine.
Barbarians!
Aug 19th, 2016 - 01:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/olimpiadas/rio2016/noticia/2016/08/feigen-pede-desculpas-e-tem-que-pagar-multa-para-voltar-aos-eua.html
#4
Aug 19th, 2016 - 05:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Wake up idiot. Have you not noticed that the Olympics have almost finished ?
Sim. Eu vi.
Aug 19th, 2016 - 05:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I find it strangely coincidental that Brazil's very own brasshole returns after a long hiatus, about the same hiatus as tobi. How many tourist were you able to shank brasshole?
Aug 19th, 2016 - 06:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We were passing information to China and Russia.
Aug 19th, 2016 - 06:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Or you have not seen a new peninsula in the Sea of Japan?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5nVLCzxydk&index=9&list=FLmXPTu1f8AdGlizWNiASx2A
@1
Aug 19th, 2016 - 06:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0That's a great idea, they can just legalise doping in the BRIClympics, and save all that effort of trying to get round the drug tests.
And other countries' athletes won't have to compete against drug cheats any more.
Not very good ambassadors for the US then.
Aug 19th, 2016 - 06:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0create its own Olympic games.
Aug 19th, 2016 - 07:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I.C.O.==international criminal Olympics,
R.B.O.==Russian bricks Olympics
U.D.O.==United drugs Olympics,
Take your pick.
In the meantime=
US Olympic swimmers fabricated robbery
and condemn these Olympians who have shames fellow athletes and the sport.
just saying like.
@13 Briton,
Aug 19th, 2016 - 08:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0U.D.O.==United drugs Olympics, …………LOVE IT.
Go to the top of the class, Briton.
@13 Thank you.
Aug 19th, 2016 - 08:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“two armed gas station security staff,”
Aug 19th, 2016 - 10:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Petrol station attendants are “armed”!!! - what sort of country is Brazil?
The opprobium with which this behavior is viewd in Brazil: https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/766635893692231680
Aug 19th, 2016 - 11:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@17
Aug 19th, 2016 - 11:55 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Ryan Lochte will be returned to Brazil within 25 years
Oh look Hepatia is showing off his/her/its lack of knowledge of English -there is no such word as 'opprobium' - presumably you mean 'opprobrium'
Aug 20th, 2016 - 11:15 am - Link - Report abuse 0Hepatia will learn to speak English within 25 years (perhaps)
@ 16 darragh
Aug 20th, 2016 - 11:31 am - Link - Report abuse 0I thought, that when you were contra-shift you lived in Brazil?
Please read the first line of your post. They were security guards and would need to be armed to be effective.
Here in Uruguay we even have local policia stationed in BROU banks, (ALL types of policia carry sidearms as a minimum). Prosegur, a private bullion / money transportation security company have at least eight members comprising the team per three vehicle convoy and at least two are armed with lookalike Chinese MP38's switchable semi / three / full auto weapons as well as pump action shotguns loaded with slug for breaching soft-skinned vehicles.
At least it saves me having to carry a pistol. :o)
#20
Aug 20th, 2016 - 12:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0There are security guards in shopping malls, stores and cash transport vans in the UK. Are they armed ? NO !!!!
Do we even have security guards at petrol stations ? NO !!!
Darragh is just comparing the level of expected casual violence in Rio with what we would expect in the UK or Eire.
@ 21 Clyde15
Aug 20th, 2016 - 01:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Give it time.
@20 ChrisR
Aug 20th, 2016 - 02:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“I thought, that when you were contra-shift you lived in Brazil” - wtf are you talking about?
OK I got that wrong, but security guards at Petrol stations are “armed”!!! - what sort of country is Brazil?
May have escaped your notice ChrisR but there are only three police forces in the world that are not routinely armed and they are RoI, UK and New Zealand. THAT is why I find the concept of having to defend a petrol station with armed guards so amazing and if in Uruguay things are as bad as you imply then maybe you should think of moving.
@ 23 darragh
Aug 20th, 2016 - 04:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You misunderstand the situation completely!
It's because private businesses and property CAN be protected by armed guards that things are NOT out of hand.
Did not these American idiots get stopped BECAUSE the guards were armed? These twats would have run off, but as they could not they LIED about it, never thinking the policia would see through the deceit.
They did something far worse than vandalism, they disgraced their team-mates AND their country.
I am in my sixth year in Uruguay and apart from the idiots that 'rule' us (their statement) the country is great.
If you think you are safer in the UK you may be deluding yourself. Try relying on the police when it's an emergency and see what happens then.
#24
Aug 20th, 2016 - 07:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We are talking about private armed guards at a filling station...not police.
What you are saying is that it is ONLY because of armed guards that vandalism or robbery is kept under some form of control.
It can only be assumed that violent behaviour is expected in Rio or is the norm and that the police cannot be relied upon to protect the average citizen.
You think that we are deluding ourselves that we are safer in the UK than in Brasil ?
I checked on the latest UNDOC figures for murder per 100, 000 population.
Brazil 24.6
Argentina 7.6
Uruguay 7.8
UK. 0.9
The figures would indicate otherwise.
ChrisR
Aug 20th, 2016 - 10:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I don't misunderstand the situation at all - what you are saying is that Uruguay is so lawless that an ordinary business such as a petrol station needs armed guards to protect it from vandalism not to mention robbery etc. That's nothing to boast about it's something to be ashamed of.
By the way I don't live in the UK but in the RoI but even so I would be much happier in the UK (or RoI) where private armies are not required to protect small businesses.
The Americans were pissed-up twats - yes we all agree on that but guns kill, vandalised doors don't.
http://en.mercopress.com/2016/08/19/us-olympic-swimmers-fabricated-robbery-story-to-cover-up-a-night-of-heavy-drinking-in-rio#comment446955: In Brazil, as in the US, many people are armed. And, of course, security guards are armed. They would not of much use if they were not.
Aug 20th, 2016 - 11:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Brazil, like the US, is not a country for beginners. If you Brits cannot handle that then you should stay at home.
@27
Aug 20th, 2016 - 11:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Our Olympic team seems to be handling it just fine, Hepatia. :)
I'd still rather live in a country where petrol stations do not need security guards, let alone armed ones. Think what a waste of money it must be if every business needs them. Much more efficient to have a police force that can actually do it's job.
In the news:
Aug 21st, 2016 - 05:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0“Man Bikes from Argentina to Rio de Janeiro Olympics — Bike Gets Stolen”
Well, duh.
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/08/19/argentina-man-biked-3500-km-to-rio-only-to-get-bike-stolen/
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/08/19/argentina-man-biked-3500-km-to-rio-only-to-get-bike-stolen/
@27 Hep
Aug 21st, 2016 - 10:32 am - Link - Report abuse 0As Clyde15 said:
“ There are security guards in shopping malls, stores and cash transport vans in the UK. Are they armed ? NO !!!!”
and it's the same in RoI we don't even have security guards of any sort armed or unarmed in our banks at least certainly not where I live and I believe that is also true in the UK.
but you say:-
“Brazil, as in the US, many people are armed. And, of course, security guards are armed. They would not of much use if they were not”.
Quite clearly you are wrong as the UK and RoI function quite happily without private armies in petrol stations, shopping malls etc. etc..
You also say:-
“Brazil, like the US, is not a country for beginners. If you Brits cannot handle that then you should stay at home”.
Shame on you. If I lived in a country like the ones you describe I wouldn't admit I lived in such a place - and I certainly wouldn't boast about it as you seem to be.
@ 26 darragh
Aug 21st, 2016 - 11:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0Uruguay is a cash economy although credit cards are making inroads to the detriment of pensioners and others who do not understand the huge interest rates they charge and are falling into debt, just as in the UK.
Just to make sure everybody understands what it was like when Britain was a cash economy: armed raids on a weekly basis on cash delivery vans delivering the wages needed by all companies, armed gang raids on banks were also popular and as fuel stations started to take more cash in as the number of cars in use increased they were robbed to. Got it now?
And do you imagine the drunken yanks would have paid up if they hadn't been sobered up PDQ by the site of handguns? Of course they wouldn't!
You really do seem to be out of touch with reality, please stay away from SA, you will only cause trouble for everybody else.
Hepatia is a butthurt RG.
Aug 21st, 2016 - 11:10 am - Link - Report abuse 0Also been known to lie.
Just hates Brits because they gave the useless RG army such a thrashing in 1982.
Hey Hepatia, old cheese.
Care for a rematch?
@31
Aug 21st, 2016 - 11:49 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well that makes some sense; thank you for explaining.
I agree, anyway, that if the criminals are generally armed then the security guards need to be too; whereas in Britain or Ireland this would just cause more trouble.
I still don't think it's something to boast about though.
Incidentally, don't you have debit cards in Uruguay? Wouldn't that be better than credit cards for the pensioners etc?
@ 33 DemonTree
Aug 21st, 2016 - 12:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“don't you have debit cards in Uruguay?”
Even I don't have credit cards in UYU (they cost far too much for the poor value they give) and I don't know anyone who has a debit card. I am a wealthy person but debit cards have never come up: I do have two 'cash cards', one for Pesos and the other for U$D which enables me to withdraw plenty of money, more than I need, from hole in the wall machines but nothing else..
I suspect the lack of debit cards is down to the lack of sustainable electronic systems throughout the country and the government 'spine' which services the banks and official offices is always breaking down due to the electricity failing on a regular basis.
So far this year UTE have managed to cut us off 11 times, not including phase change operations whilst switching supplies (basically they have no accurate control on their substations). The worst systems outage took two days for BROU (the main government owned bank) to recover from. No transactions between branches could take place so no cash transfers to businesses in order to obtain products 'bought' on 'tinternet.
The children who 'rule' us (their term) have now decided to force the credit card companies to assist them in providing 'fuel cards' for everyone! Yes, it's commie thinking to the fore. This is in response to a big cash theft from the biggest fuel station in MVD brought about by the cash collection company not servicing the stations as often as required so we all will soon have to buy these cards for cash (probably at the fuel station) and then pay for the fuel we use with the card! The dummies haven't woken up to the fact that nothing will change apart from everyone will have a service charge levied by the Card Issuers (and probably a tax to the government). This was supposed to have taken off by now but it has all gone 'dark' and I can only hope sense prevails and the scheme is ditched.
Still love the place though, the rest is just clutter.
@31 ChrisR
Aug 21st, 2016 - 02:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0No I still haven't 'got it now'.
If as you claim the UK was awash with armed robbers at some mythical time in the past how come there was still no requirement for armed police or private armies?.
All I have got from your comments is that Uruguay is some third-world hellhole where everybody goes around armed to the teeth just in case somebody vandalises a door.
If I should happen to go to SA (God forbid) how would I, an unarmed person manage to cause 'problems' for the lawless citizens of such delightful places as Uruguay where no doubt even the toilet-cleaners are armed and you have the audacity to claim that I’m out of touch with reality!
Got it now!!!
@ 35 darragh
Aug 21st, 2016 - 06:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Uruguay is some third-world hellhole where everybody goes around armed to the teeth just in case somebody vandalises a door.”
Now you are being silly, I never said anything like that and the damage was extensive.
Do yourself a favour and take a walk through the Liverpool 'dock' area, it's actually a visitors playground now: where visitors are the target of 'scallywags' aka minor robbers.
I bet your nervous ticks and furtive looks over your shoulder in case somebody says 'BOOO' to you either gets your collar felt or your wallet lifted.
It's your fear and body language that marks you out.
”If I should happen to go to SA (God forbid)” Glad to hear that!
@36 CR
Aug 22nd, 2016 - 01:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Try reading what I actually wrote :- “All I have got from YOUR COMMENTS is that Uruguay is some third-world hellhole”
Then read what you wrote :- “Prosegur, a private bullion / money transportation security company have at least eight members comprising the team per three vehicle convoy and at least two are armed with lookalike Chinese MP38's switchable semi / three / full auto weapons as well as pump action shotguns loaded with slug for breaching soft-skinned vehicles.
At least it saves me having to carry a pistol”.
Sounds to me like you are describing “some third-world hellhole”
Liverpool docks – hilarious. Why don’t you try entering Liverpool Docks in your search engine of choice and then read some of the articles listed
Liverpool Docks – funniest thing I’ve read on MP for ages
You’ve obviously never been there and I rather suspect you’ve never been to Uruguay either.
I’d rather deal with some Liverpudlian scally than some idiots defending a toilet door with :- “at least two are armed with lookalike Chinese MP38's switchable semi / three / full auto weapons as well as pump action shotguns loaded with slug”
You really are going to have to up your game or you won’t get paid this month.
I shan’t be responding to any more of your drivel on this thread so don’t bother responding.
@ 37 darragh
Aug 22nd, 2016 - 05:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I had the misfortune of having to deal for a number of years with customers of a company I was a director of who were based in Liverpool (The Swan area) and was always impressed how they coped with their burden of petty thieves and con-merchants who attacked them on a regular basis.
20% mark up for 'shrinkage' was the only way they could show a profit. When I asked why they were still there when they could have moved to a more suitable area the answer the owner gave me was that his dad started the business and didn't want to move.
About a year later he rang me to tell me they were moving south: his dad had died and the rest of the family wanted out. Needless to say they went from strength to strength.
Just before I came to Uruguay (oh, sorry, I'm not here am I?) a personal friend asked if we would like to go to Liverpool Docks for the day and I just laughed at him. When I explained why he said that sort of thing was not a problem now and would not listen when I suggested he went by train and left his brand-new A4 with all the extras at home.
But you have already guessed what happened haven't you? He went in it anyway and had both sides badly keyed whilst it was parked.
As you can see I have taken your drivel for what it is, drivel.
Have you ever left the RoI, it doesn't seem so to me?
@1 Brasshole
Aug 22nd, 2016 - 07:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Pure unadulterated bullsh*t.
@4 Brasshole
Pure unadulterated bullsh*t.
What else is new despite the fact that after being absent for several weeks, you continue as ignorant as always, posting the stupid ideas that cross your mind and which you then post as the truth ??
@23 darragh
”OK I got that wrong, but security guards at Petrol stations are “armed”!!! - what sort of country is Brazil?
Well, to answer your question as objectively as possible, Brazil has dozens of thousands of criminals on the loose, with plenty of time to plan bank robberies, hold-ups of armoured security trucks, exploding their way into the protected buildings of security companies, to walk away with millions of dollars. They are always armed to the teeth, with explosives and weaponry far superior to that of the police, which is contrabanded into Brazil from Paraguay and Bolivia.....Robberies at gas stations are extremely common, so all in all, even with 'armed' guards at these installations, the criminals usually get away with it. According to the Federal Police, there are roughly 15 million firearms legally registered in Brazil, and just as many illegal ones... mostly in the hands of criminals. So yes, if guards of any sort are not armed - not that this is a guarantee of protection - they are just about as useful as a fart on a curtain-rail.
http://en.mercopress.com/2016/08/19/us-olympic-swimmers-fabricated-robbery-story-to-cover-up-a-night-of-heavy-drinking-in-rio#comment447062: But of course you would. That's your problem - and my point.
Aug 23rd, 2016 - 01:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0Lets be truthful. Europe is dull. And, arguably, the UK is the dullest of all the European countries. So you, a very dull person, prefers to live in a very dull country. Who knew? But you need to be aware that dullness is not the virtue that you believe it to be.
Alcohol and arrogance make for a lousy combination. An expensive one too: Lockte has now lost four of his sponsors.
Aug 23rd, 2016 - 02:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0@40 Hepatia
Aug 23rd, 2016 - 08:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0Life is not a game or a soap opera for your entertainment. Why don't you ask the relatives of some of the 58,000 people murdered in Brazil in 2014 if they would like their country to be a little more 'dull'?
#40
Aug 23rd, 2016 - 09:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0How would you know.......anything !
Hepatia doesn't do truth or logic.
Aug 23rd, 2016 - 09:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0lt just parrots what its RG handlers tell it to.
Sad case.
I can't believe the amount of denial displayed by most MP commentators.
Aug 23rd, 2016 - 07:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They did address the robbery and blamed Brazil and Latin American countries in general when the first story appeared.
Now that the robbery turned out to be a fake, they are mostly, besides #41 Heisenbergcontext, avoiding the subject.
Are you guys for real?
@45 Enrique Massot
Aug 23rd, 2016 - 08:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Expecting the comments to be on topic? On Mercopress? You're even more of an optimist than I thought!
Several people have condemned the swimmers over on http://en.mercopress.com/2016/08/22/despite-all-odds-rio-the-marvelous-city-earned-its-olympian-record#comments, where you brought up the topic. Except Hepatia, who is still blaming Brazil somehow.
@45 Reekie
Aug 23rd, 2016 - 11:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Now that the robbery turned out to be a fake, they are mostly, besides #41 Heisenbergcontext, avoiding the subject.”
May I ask, what the hell are you talking about ? who is avoiding the subject ? While to me, it is obvious that Lochte is a complete idiot and will pay dearly for his stupidity, he was after all, defending himself by using the unfortunate, but justified fame that the city of Rio enjoys. If you were even remotely familiar with Rio and it's criminality, you would understand his crooked belief that he could lie his way out of the 'fiasco'. He has to be punished, and knowing the US, he will be, starting with the fact that he has already lost all his sponsorships - in other words, he's finished as an athlete.
http://en.mercopress.com/2016/08/19/us-olympic-swimmers-fabricated-robbery-story-to-cover-up-a-night-of-heavy-drinking-in-rio#comment447227: And, it appears, some Brazilian attorneys believe that a robbery occurred: http://en.mercopress.com/2016/08/19/us-olympic-swimmers-fabricated-robbery-story-to-cover-up-a-night-of-heavy-drinking-in-rio#comment447227:
Aug 24th, 2016 - 12:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0The only part of Lochte's story that I'm inclined to believe in, is that he , in his drunken stupor, very likely didn't fully grasp what was going on after the security guards pulled their guns.......and one part I'm NOT inclined to believe in is that the security guards told the whole truth, probably omitting the likelyhood that they were “slightly” more aggressive with their weapons than they let on during the interviews conducted later with the press. These s0-called security guards, most likely off-duty cops, are not exactly known for exerting the necessary self-control when faced with such situations.
Aug 24th, 2016 - 08:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@49
Aug 25th, 2016 - 10:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0And I am sure that the reparations that the swimmers paid to be so called guards were handed to the owners of the petrol station. Well they would be as it was so politicised, would't it?
@50 golfcronie
Aug 25th, 2016 - 09:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“And I am sure that the reparations that the swimmers paid to be so called guards were handed to the owners of the petrol station.”
To believe that, one would also have to believe that Hepatia has a brain in its head.
I see now that the Brazilian authorities are going to prosecute Lochte.
Aug 26th, 2016 - 09:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0They have an extradition treaty with the USA...it will be interesting to see how that works out
They should ship his ass back there. He left to team mates to hang. He's a dickhead even before this happened. As they say....when in Rome.
Aug 26th, 2016 - 07:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thanx to the security guards at the gas station - he is still alive to return to Brazil!
Aug 27th, 2016 - 03:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://en.mercopress.com/2016/08/19/us-olympic-swimmers-fabricated-robbery-story-to-cover-up-a-night-of-heavy-drinking-in-rio#comment447235: Unlike you I do not need a focus group to determine what my opinion is on the subject. So I'll leave it to you to to poll the relatives. You have the time because you come from a country which is the definition of a cultural desert.
Aug 28th, 2016 - 01:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0Only about US$ 50 were “claimed” to have been robbed and his body was not even found floating in the polluted waters of Guanabara Bay.
Aug 28th, 2016 - 05:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And still, he was grumbling - for what?
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