US Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte has reportedly been held up at gunpoint after leaving a party in Rio de Janeiro.
Lochte, who won gold in the men’s 4x200m swimming event, was said to have been invited to the party by Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira.
Fox News reported that Lochte and three teammates were robbed while travelling in a taxi in the early hours of this morning.
The International Olympic Committee has denied that the incident happened, as has Lochte’s coach, but a spokesman for Pereira confirmed the robbery.
Lochte's mother also told Fox News he had called her following the "terrifying" incident, and that she and his girlfriend were going to meet him at the training base, where the swimmer had safely made it back to.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said reports of Lochte being held up at gunpoint were “absolutely not true.”
However, Pereira's representative told the Washington Post that Lochte was in a taxi leaving a nightclub when the taxi was robbed.
Flavio Perez, Pereira’s spokesman, said: “Thiago Pereira and his wife Gabriela Pauletti were in Club France, the French house in Brazil, and they were celebrating the birthday of a friend in common.
“Lochte was also in the same place, commemorating the same birthday. Ryan and Thiago are friends.
"Thiago and his wife left earlier, they left alone, the two of them. Thiago and his wife went back to their hotel.
"Then Thiago, on finding out what happened, called Ryan. Ryan is well, and Thiago said that the robbery, according to Ryan, was in the taxi. The taxi was robbed.”
Lochte, 32, is the second most successful Olympic swimmer of all-time behind American teammate Michael Phelps.
He won his sixth gold medal in Rio as part of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
