Australian athletes detained in Rio for alleged tampering with accreditation
THE nine athletes detained by police in the ‘ticket-gate’ saga have had their passports returned and will be on the charter flight back to Australia.
Olympics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Olympics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE nine athletes detained by police in the ‘ticket-gate’ saga have had their passports returned and will be on the charter flight back to Australia.
Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller said Olympic officials had been scrambling to pay the fines and reclaim the passports.
The athletes detained were named by the AOC as Ashlee Ankudinoff and Melissa Hoskins from cycling, rugby sevens captain Ed Jenkins, Alec Potts and Ryan Tyack from archery, Olympia Aldersey, Fiona Albert and Lucy Stephan from rowing and Simon Orchard from hockey.
Cyclist Matthew Glaetzer was not charged but detained as a witness. He was not required to provide a statement to police
Chiller confirmed at a press conference on Sunday (AEST) that a public holiday in Rio on Monday meant AOC officials needed to drive interstate to pay the 90,000 real fine ($36,000) before passports would be returned to the athletes so they can leave the country.
“It is physically not possible to have the fine paid and get their passports back by tomorrow,” Chiller said.
“We need to drive out of Rio to make payment and collect the passports.”
However, there has been a resolution and the athletes will be on the flight.
“We are doing absolutely everything we can.
“It was our mistake. But they (the athletes) are fine now and we are doing our absolute best to make sure they can be on that flight with us tomorrow.”
Chiller has promised a full investigation into how the sticker scam the athletes used to tamper with their accreditations to get into events unfolded, adding it was a tradition used by multiple national organisations for many years.
Chiller admitted she was made aware of the sticker scam a few days before the athletes were detained by police at the men’s basketball semi-final and asked for it to stop only for her directions to be ignored.
“I became aware of it a few days earlier. I said that’s not the way our team behaves,” she said.
Chiller has since apologised directly to the athletes and some of their families for the embarrassment and pain caused by this situation.
Australian athletes being moved to new police location pic.twitter.com/BeryWPPR7o
— Todd Balym (@balym_GCB) August 20, 2016
The AOC issued a statement with Ms Chiller’s personal apology.
“The athletes were held at a police station for many hours and I apologise for the trauma they went through, the problem with the accreditation was not their fault,” she said.
“For legal reasons I am not in a position to elaborate except to say it is important to know that the Australian athletes were definitely not at fault. I am very disappointed our athletes had to go through what
then went through last night”.
Ms Chiller and AOC lawyer Fiona de Jong met the athletes again on Saturday morning local time (Sunday morning EST) to offer counselling.
Ms de Jong told the press conference the athletes avoided a prison term after she was able to negotiate the fine.
Chiller was asked if she would resign over the situation but refused to answer.
“I won’t answer that question,” she said.
Chiller admitted the Rio Olympics had been an extremely difficult Games, with security a major issue and Australia’s performance well below expectations.
Australia will finish with eight gold medals and a medal tally worse than London four years ago, making it the worst Games since 1992.
“I’m extremely proud of our team, there have been many standout and breakthrough performance here. 29 medals including eight gold however is short of where we wanted to be, well short,” she said.
“Our efforts here were very, very often close but they fell just short.”
Despite numerous reports in the past week where the AOC bosses have been at loggerheads with the Australian Sports Commission over the success of the Winning Edge funding model and leaks over the
behaviour of the swim team, Chiller refused to discuss those matters in her closing press conference.
“There will also be a debate about funding, but getting into sledging match now … is counter-productive,” she said.
“When you under perform in elite sport the blame game always follows, I’m not interested in the blame game.”
Ms Chiller and AOC lawyer Fiona de Jong met the athletes again on Saturday morning local time (Sunday morning EST) to offer counselling.
Ms de Jong told the press conference the athletes avoided a prison term after she was able to negotiate the fine.
“It is an offence that does carry an imprisonment, that would be one to five years but that ultimately was not where we got to, which we are very pleased about,” she said.
Instead of cheering on their Australian teammates they were forced into a Rio police station opposite the Olympic Park at 7pm (local time) for seven hours of questioning.
Then after another three hours of negotiation in front a State Events Court they were finally freed just before 5.30am local time (6:30pm EST).
The athletes will not be forced to leave Rio but will instead remain in the country until the entire team flies out on Monday morning.
Their release was brokered by lawyer and AOC chief executive Fiona De Jong, who spent the night trying to avoid the type of legal circus that befell American Ryan Lochte.
In a statement the AOC confirmed De Jong had “apologised to the court and explained that the athletes were supporting their teammates, they were not attempting to defraud anyone, no-one had suffered a
material loss and no-one was harmed as a result of the incident.”
The statement also confirmed that the charges, which were punishable with a jail term under Brazilian law, would not have gone before the courts for at least three weeks.
The alternative to the full legal process was an expedited hearing resulting in each athlete being given a two year good behaviour bond and a 10,000 real fine ($4092).
No criminal conviction would be recorded and any record of the proceeding would be expunged after two years.
“What has occurred is a mistake was made this evening and athletes accessed the Olympic venue without the correct accreditation,’’ de Jong said.
“We have apologised for that mistake before the magistrate and prosecutor. It was a state’s special events court.
“We have agreed on an outcome which is the payment of a fine and good behaviour bond for each of the athletes involved.
“We particularly grateful for everyone’s co-operation and assistance through the process. The athletes are very much looking forward to getting back to the village and having some sleep.
“The athletes have asked that we would respect their request to do that and that you assist in us doing that to get them back to the village.”
Deputy chef de mission Fiona de Jong says none of the 10 Aussies have been arrested or charged, just detained pic.twitter.com/HVLCLf3oaI
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) August 20, 2016
IOC president Thomas Bach dismissed the suggestion that there was “bad blood” between Brazilian authorities and international athletes.
“This I cannot see,” he said.
He declared he respected the Brazilian authorities and their application of the law.
“We respect fully the laws here in Brazil and the legal authorities,” he said.
Mr Bach said he’d only learned of the Australian athletes’ legal drama this morning, saying he had nothing further to add.
The drama took on an added edge given the determination of the Brazilian police to make an example of misbehaving athletes given the negative publicity surrounding Lochte’s initial claims.
The IOC and Rio police have launched a crackdown on accreditations in the wake of the Ryan Lochte incident earlier this week. There has been a long tradition of Australia’s Olympic athletes tampering with accreditation or being secreted into events to cheer on their teammates.
With only a limited allocation of tickets and with Australians desperate to support their teammates sneaking into events without proper accreditation has been an Olympic sport all in itself.
But given the continued issues with this Olympics in Rio and the issues surrounding swimmer Josh Palmer’s 14-hour bender it is far from ideal for the Australian Olympic team.
‘TRIPLE TRIPLE’ USAIN BOLT: “I AM THE GREATEST”
INCREDIBLE: ESPOSITO WINS GOLD IN MODERN PENTATHLON
‘We are incredibly excited’: Next Gen rugby 7s women turning heads
There were blowouts, close calls, a hot boot and multiple try-fectas in the opening round of the Next Gen Sevens rugby series in Sydney. Stars, great photos and Rd 1 result wrap.
Lions team bus delivers Ian Healy painful Gabba reality check
With the 2032 Brisbane Olympics approaching rapidly, Australian cricket great Ian Healy was left with a wry smile as the Brisbane Lions rolled into the AFL grand final at the MCG.