The threat of street crime in Rio "felt more intense to many" following four U.S. swimmers, including Ryan Lochte, being "held up at gunpoint on their way back from a party early Sunday," according to Alice Park of TIME. Hungarian swimmer Dalma Sebestyen called the situation "very scary." She added that she postponed a sight-seeing trip yesterday "out of concern following the armed robbery" (TIME.com, 8/15). ESPN’s T.J. Quinn noted Olympic officials, following the robbery, are "caught in the position of saying, ‘Well, you should know better than to go out,’ when the whole pitch of Rio was, ‘It’s Rio, come. This is the land of Carnival, this is where we do beach volleyball at midnight.’" Events are ending "insanely late, in large part because NBC wanted it that way." But the IOC and various sports federations "went right along with it for prime TV viewing." Quinn: "Now these athletes are leaving their workplace at 1, 2 in the morning, and then they’re surprised they go out" ("OTL,” ESPN, 8/15).
POLICE A STEP BEHIND: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Patricia Kowsmann notes a Rio police official yesterday indicated that the robbery initially "wasn't reported to police." The officer said that upon seeing media reports on Sunday, police "immediately launched an investigation." The fact the crime was not reported is "one of several questions police here are seeking to answer." A police officer said that $400 was taken from Lochte and $300 from teammate Jimmy Feigen, though police are "puzzling over why the swimmers' mobile phones and Olympic credentials weren't stolen" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/16).
FINDING THE LIGHTER SIDE: Comedy Central had some fun with the incident, with "The Daily Show's" Roy Wood Jr. noting the "big news out of Rio this weekend, Ryan Lochte and three other Olympic swimmers were robbed at gunpoint by thieves posing as police officers." Wood: "I bet you Ryan Lochte was like, ‘Man, if we was in the water right now, I’d be whooping your ass. You better pray to God it don't rain. I just be breast stroking on your head, whop, whop’" ("The Daily Show," Comedy Central, 8/15).
