U.S. Gold Medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte "admitted to Brazil's largest broadcaster Saturday night that he had exaggerated his story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio -- but insisted he did not lie." In an interview aired on Globo TV, "Lochte apologized to the nation." He said, "I'm sorry. Brazil doesn't deserve that." The Olympian "insisted that he was a victim of extortion because he was forced by armed guards to hand over money." Lochte: "I wasn't lying to a certain extent. I over-exaggerated what was happening to me." Lochte's interview with the Globo TV network aired after the Brazil versus Germany game. The match "was expected to attract a record number of viewers," many of whom stayed on to watch Lochte speak to the nation (REUTERS, 8/21).
AUSSIES DETAINED: Nine Australian Olympic athletes "fined over an accreditation problem at the Rio Games risk missing their flight home," a team official said on Sunday, a "final frustration for a team that has experienced many headaches and a disappointing medal count." The nine athletes "were briefly detained," collectively fined R$90,000 ($28,000) and "had their passports seized after entering the basketball arena without proper accreditation on Friday night." The Australian team's charter flight "leaves on Monday," but Australian Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller said that "police are still holding their passports." She added that it was "still unclear how and when they could reclaim the passports" (REUTERS, 8/21). The Australian Olympic Committee said in a statement, "The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has today apologised to athletes caught up in an accreditation incident in RIO which resulted in them being detained by police." Chiller: "The athletes were held at a police station for many hours and I apologize for the trauma they went through, the problem with the accreditation was not their fault." The AOC has launched an internal investigation into the incident which saw a group of Australian athletes removed from a basketball game involving Australia and Serbia because their accreditation had been tampered with and changed enabling them to gain access to the event (AOC).
WARM WELCOME HOME: Britain's Olympic athletes will "hold a triumphal march through Manchester after both Team GB and ParalympicsGB have returned from Rio," Downing Street announced on Friday. Their achievements "will also be celebrated by an event in London." The decision, made by PM Theresa May, comes three days after former rowing champion Matthew Pimsett set off "what threatened to a major political protest by revealing that he had heard that there was to be no victory parade." Dozens of I Am Team GB events "had been arranged around" the U.K., to be held next Friday, in honor of "the record breaking collection of medals that British athletes are bringing back from Rio" (London INDEPENDENT, 8/19).
OLYMPIC BRIEFS ...
The Amateur Int'l Boxing Association (AIBA) reassigned its exec director "in the middle of the Olympics" after an examination of the judging and refereeing at the Games. AIBA assigned Karim Bouzidi to a new role within the organization Thursday, "but declined to elaborate on the reason." Bouzidi has been AIBA's exec director under President Wu Ching-Kuo for the past 15 months. The Frenchman is also the CEO of the World Series of Boxing, a team-based professional league run by AIBA (AP, 8/18).
A "benefactor" has handed a reward of $390,000 to the Nigerian Olympic football team in Brazil after the West African country won Bronze on Saturday. Japanese plastic surgeon Katsuya Takasu "had promised to reward the team after hearing about their financial difficulties before and during the tournament." Takasu fulfilled his promise by presenting checks of $200,000 and $190,000 to coach Samson Siasia and captain John Mikel Obi, respectively, on behalf of the team (BBC, 8/21).
Distance runners Abbey D'Agostino from the U.S. and Nikki Hamblin from New Zealand received Fair Play awards from the The Int'l Fair Play Committee (CIFP), with the support of the IOC on Saturday. The awards are in recognition of their exemplary sportsmanship during the women's 5,000m heats on Tuesday. Hamblin tripped and fell to the ground during the race, accidentally bringing D'Agostino down behind her with around 1,800m to go. D'Agostino was quick to get up again but instead of carrying on with her race she stopped to help Hamblin to her feet, encouraging her to join her in attempting to finish the race (IAAF).
