Former Kookaburra Simon Orchard reveals story behind wild 2016 Rio arrest of nine Australian Olympians

They were just trying to support their Olympic mates but one cheeky plan landed former Kookaburra Simon Orchard and eight other Aussie Olympians inside a Brazilian jailhouse.

Bronzed dual-Olympic Kookaburra Simon Orchard just about saw it all in a decorated hockey career — including the inside of a Brazilian jailhouse.

Orchard, now among the foremost experts on hockey in the country, has one hell of a story to tell at sportsman’s nights after he was famously among nine Aussie athletes detained by Brazilian police at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

A cheeky attempt to cheer on the Boomers in their semi-final clash with Serbia — orchestrated by Aussie officials in Rio — landed the powerful midfielder in hot water.

His passport was confiscated along with those of rugby sevens captain Ed Jenkins, cyclists Ashlee Ankudinoff and Melissa Hoskins, Alec Potts and Ryan Tyack who shared archery bronze in the teams event, and rowing trio Olympia Aldersey, Fiona Albert and Lucy Stephan.

“The AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) have this unofficial tradition that they want Australian athletes to support their fellow team members and you only get so many tickets at the Olympics,” Orchard explained.

“That night we got a blast on our Olympic phone saying ‘we’re going to try and get as many people in as possible to support the Boomers’.

“Most people’s Olympics were over, we were already out, so, of course a bunch of us said ‘yeah, let’s do it’.”

Kookaburras Olympic bronze medallist Simon Orchard has recalled the night he and nine other Aussie Olympians were detained in Brazil. Picture: AAP

Orchard was among dozens of Aussie athletes who collected their fake accreditation stickers from AOC HQ, stuck it on his official pass, and headed off for the game.

Problem was, ‘Lochtegate’ — the scandal involving a group of US swimmers, including gold medal-winning star Ryan Lochte, who lied about being assaulted by armed robbers posing as police — had only happened a couple of days earlier and the embarrassed Brazilians “wanted blood”.

“On the night, I reckon there were 80-100 Australians going into the basketball,” he said.

“I got to the back behind all the Aussies and I imagine people inside were like ‘Hang on, we’ve got no seats, there’s Aussies everywhere, what the f***’s going on?’.”

Once they’d cottoned on, security guards pounced on the Down Under nine — although they weren’t quite swift enough for a 10th.

“One of the security guards grabbed my pass and then we got frogmarched away, but there was a rugby player who peeled his sticker off and swallowed it and got out of there, scott free,” Orchard, whose podcast with News Corp hockey contributor Adam Clifford ‘Parlez Vous Hockey’ followed the fortunes of the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos in Paris, said.

The shenanigans of Ryan Lochte and other members of the USA men’s Olympic swim team didn’t help the detained Aussies’ cause. Picture: AFP

From there, it was a trip to the cop shop that involved a 12-hour back and forth as AOC officials and Brazilian authorities attempted to avoid a diplomatic storm.

“(Australia’s then chef de mission) Kitty Chiller was literally having kittens and (then AOC chief executive) Fiona de Jong was helping us out,” he said.

“It was an unknown, we got our passports confiscated and obviously, once that happens, your ticket out of the country’s at risk, so we didn’t know what was happening but I remember having pizza in the cop shop so it couldn’t have been too serious.

“The game was probably about 7pm, and we didn’t get out of there until 7am the next morning.

“We got a big fine ($36,000), got charged with fraud and we couldn’t go back to South America for a few years.”

Australia’s Rio chef de mission Kitty Chiller was ‘having kittens’ as officials scrambled to free the nine detained Aussie Olympians. Picture: AAP

Despite the worries of mum and dad, who were waiting in the stadium to watch the game with Orchard, the now-38-year-old, who will call the Olympic hockey for the ABC in Paris, reckons it’s just another good Aussie larrikin tail.

“Some will say immature and stupid but we just wanted to support our mates,” he said.

“I never feared for my safety and I never thought it was the end of the world.

“It’s a great story to tell.

“I go to the pub, people always want to know about it, I go to hockey functions, people don’t care about the hockey, they want to hear about Rio jail.”

Orchard said he was saddened when reminded Hoskins — who died last year after she was struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by her husband, cyclist Rohan Dennis — was among the group of athletes who were detained.

THE RIO NINE

Simon Orchard (hockey)

Ed Jenkins (rugby sevens captain)

Ashlee Ankudinoff (cycling)

Melissa Hoskins (cycling)

Alec Potts (archery — teams bronze)

Ryan Tyack (archery — teams bronze)

Olympia Aldersey (rowing)

Fiona Albert (rowing)

Lucy Stephan (rowing)

Originally published as Former Kookaburra Simon Orchard reveals story behind wild 2016 Rio arrest of nine Australian Olympians