RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian judge on Wednesday issued an order to prevent Ryan Lochte and James Feigen, two of the American swimmers who claimed they were robbed at gunpoint during the Olympic Games, from leaving the country as doubts emerged over their testimony about the episode.
But Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medalist, had already left Brazil before the judge issued the order to seize the passports of the two swimmers, according to Lochte’s lawyer in the United States. It was not immediately clear if Feigen was still in Brazil.
Lochte had said that he and three other swimmers — Feigen, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz — were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday after leaving in a taxi from a party at Club France, a temporary venue set up to promote France during the Olympics, by men who identified themselves as police officers.
Investigators have not found evidence corroborating the account, according to local news reports, prompting the judge’s order.
“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, referring to video of the swimmers arriving back at the Olympic Village after the party.
Brazilian authorities are coming under scrutiny for an array of armed assaults during the Olympics, despite the deployment of an 85,000-strong security force to ease fears about violent crime in Rio.
Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said that the police had been looking for the two swimmers Wednesday morning, hoping to collect their passports. But the athletes were no longer at the Olympic Village, he said.
“The swim team moved out of the village after their competition ended, so we were not able to make the athletes available,” Sandusky said. “Additionally, as part of our standard security protocol, we do not make athlete travel plans public and therefore cannot confirm the athletes’ current location.”
Lochte’s lawyer, Jeff Ostrow, rejected assertions that his client and the three other swimmers may have fabricated details of the episode, describing such claims as efforts by Brazilian officials to deflect criticism of problems at the Rio Games.
“The country has a dark cloud over it for a million and one reasons, from their economy to their crime to their management of the Olympics,” said Ostrow, who is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and attended the Olympics last week. “My client has cooperated thoroughly with the Brazilian authorities and stands behind his statement.”
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