The U.S. Olympic Committee announced that U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte and three teammates "were robbed in a taxi hold-up by men posing as armed police officers." USOC spokesperson Patrick Sandusky said, "According to four members of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team (Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, Jimmy Feigen and Ryan Lochte), they left France House early Sunday morning in a taxi headed for the Olympic Village. Their taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who demanded the athletes' money and other personal belongings. All four athletes are safe and cooperating with authorities" (REUTERS, 8/14).
MORE TESTINGS: U.S. Gold Medal swimmer Michael Phelps "was among a group of 23 American swimmers who demanded more drugs testing in the run up to the Rio Olympics." Phelps "signed a letter" sent to the Int'l Swimming Federation (FINA) in December. It proposed carrying out "at least six" targeted, out-of-competition tests on the 10 quickest swimmers in each of the 34 Olympic events. FINA "accepted the proposal in January." Other U.S. swimmers making the "urgent request" to the governing body included Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin (BBC, 8/12).
FAILED TESTS: Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi and Bulgarian steeplechaser Silvia Danekova have "tested positive for banned substances at the Rio Olympics." The Chinese Swimming Association said that Chen "tested positive for a substance without providing specifics" (London GUARDIAN, 8/12).
ROUGH RIVALRY: Argentine President Mauricio Macri has asked Brazilian and Argentine fans at the Rio Olympics to "cease their hostile chants and name-calling." Macri said that the two countries "should not let their bitter football rivalry spill over into the Olympic Games." Brazilian fans have been "loudly supporting any athlete competing against their southern neighbours." Argentine fans have often "responded with disrespectful chants against the Brazilians." Macri said, "The sports rivalry between Argentines and Brazilians has turned into a verbal confrontation that could end badly. Neither we, Argentines, nor the Brazilians are like that" (BBC, 8/14).
OLYMPIC BRIEFS ...
A female Iranian activist who "held a protest banner during a volleyball match at the Rio Olympics was asked to take it down and leave by security staff." Darya Safai's sign read: "Let Iranian women enter their stadiums." Women have "generally been banned or restricted from attending all-male sports events in Iran since shortly after the Islamic revolution in 1979." After she "refused to leave, security staff abandoned their attempt to remove her and she carried on holding up the banner for the rest of the game" (BBC, 8/14).
China’s cyclists at the Olympics have "some impressive headgear -- helmets featuring faces and masks from Chinese Opera." China’s Gold Medal-winning sprinters Zhong Tianshi and Gong Jinjie were "sporting them on their way to victory on Friday, and male sprinter Xu Chao showed off his design on Saturday." The women’s helmets "featured Hua Mulan and Mu Guiying, legendary Chinese female warriors." Xu’s "had the Beijing Opera mask of Zhang Fei, a military general from the Three Kingdoms period" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 8/14).
The IOC has "absolved" John Anzrah, the Kenyan Olympic sprint coach who was expelled from the Rio Olympics "for allegedly posing as 800m athlete, Ferguson Rotich." The IOC said in a statement received in Nairobi on Sunday that there was "no preliminary evidence to suggest to any attempt to compromise the drug test," but "horrible mix-up" (XINHUA, 8/14).
