Australian Athletes Fined For Improper Accreditation

Brazilian law enforcement has detained 10 Australian athletes for altering their accreditation at the Rio Olympics, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said.

“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”, Australia’s deputy team leader Fiona de Jong said.

The athletes were charged with using false documents, Rio de Janeiro Civil Police said during a news conference Saturday.

After an all-night process, they were released at dawn after AOC chief executive and deputy chef de mission Fiona de Jong negotiated with authorities for them to be fined rather than proceed to court where the Australians would have been liable for jail terms. He said: “if you look at some of the times that have been done here, some of the teams simply haven’t shown up”.

It was the final frustration of Australia’s troubled Games, taking in accommodation complaints, theft, a small fire and one of their swimmers being mugged a few days before the nine athletes were detained. After her event, Brennan gave the most complete, mature interview of any Australian athlete in Rio – offering some unusually honest insights into the life of an Olympic athlete.

Australia pushed back its move into the Olympic village due to the unfinished state of the rooms. If you tamper with accreditations it is their problem.

She said she wasn’t interested in a blame game, but admitted the team fell well short of expectations.

“I said that’s not the way that our team should behave and it shouldn’t be facilitated that that practice was put in place”.

Australian taxpayers pumped about A$340 million ($260 million) into Olympic sports over the four years leading up the Rio and they have always expected the nation to punch well above its weight.

It is the lowest total since 1992 Barcelona, where the Australian team won 27 medals including seven gold and also finished 10th overall.

“I think what Rio has reminded us is that Olympic medals are not easy to come by”, she added.

“We have agreed on an outcome which is the payment of the fine and a good behaviour bond for each of the athletes involved”, she said.

Meantime, Australian swimmer Josh Palmer will make a statement to Rio police today concerning his claim to have been robbed during the week.

McKeon stayed out at a nightclub until the early hours of the morning, while Palmer headed to a beach kiosk with a friend to continue drinking.