Aussie swimmers disciplined after night out in Copacabana

Emma McKeon and Josh Palmer won’t be allowed to participate in Sunday’s closing ceremony and must stay in the village between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Chiller proceeded to call Palmer’s behavior “unacceptable” and “disrespectful”, and she banned him and another Australian swimmer, 200-meter freestyle bronze medalist Emma McKeon, who also spent Tuesday night partying, from attending the Closing Ceremonies.

According to The Australian, he was found “disorientated without his wallet and phone” by two businessmen in the Copa district of Rio de Janeiro.

A statement issued on Thursday morning, Rio time, by the AOC boss Kitty Chiller said McKeon and Palmer must remain now in the Athletes’ Village between 8pm and 8am and only travel to sporting events in official Rio 2016 transport.

The entire Australian swimming team must also be back in the athletes’ village by 2am.

McKeon is believed to have stayed with two female competitors from Sweden rather than making the one-hour return by auto to the village in the Barra area.

He certainly won’t find a sympathetic ear at the Australian Olympic Committee, which previously announced a ban on athletes going to Copacabana Beach after nightfall due to the threat of petty crime, an apparently prescient curfew that Palmer, McKeon and a group of fellow athletes failed to abide.

Josh Palmer competes in the men’s 100m breaststroke.

Palmer, who didn’t make it past the heats in his 100m breaststroke on night one of the Games, has told officials that he was approached by a man late at night in the famous Rio beachside suburb of Copacabana.

They contacted the Australian Consulate who in turn contacted the Australian Olympic Team who sent Swim Team Leader Wayne Lomas to pick him up.

Palmer met with Nance and a member of the Australian Federal Police.

“I have raised the need for the swimming team leader to ensure he is aware of his athletes’ whereabouts when leaving the Olympic Village and that the swimming athletes observe the 2am curfew”.

“Palmer was found later by two businessmen in the Copa district who reported the swimmer was disoriented and had lost his wallet and phone”, the AOC statement said. It is interesting that he has not elected to make a formal complaint to the police about the robbery, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he isn’t telling the truth.

Both athletes have apologised for their actions.