Rio 2016 organisers have issued an apology to members of the United States swimming team who were robbed by thieves posing as armed police.
Ryan Lochte, who won the 12th Olympic medal of his career by helping the USA to 4x200 metres relay gold in Rio, was among those travelling back to the athletes' village from a party in the early hours of Sunday when their taxi was waved down by individuals who demanded money and other personal belongings.
The United States Olympic Committee initially played down the incident to the International Olympic Committee, which said reports of the story were "not true".
But the situation was cleared up on Sunday afternoon when USOC released a statement confirming Lochte, along with team-mates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen, were held up by thieves.
The incident is the latest to beset the Games, with two bullets having hit the equestrian site, one of them piercing the roof of the media tent, while a media bus came under attack last week and was later blamed on stone-throwing vandals.
Mario Andrada, chief spokesman of Rio 2016, said at Monday's press briefing: "Everybody saw the confirmation by the US swimmers that indeed they were held up when returning to the Olympic Village.
"We obviously regret that the violence has taken place so close to athletes, we have requested the security authorities that they need to make everybody safe in the city.
"We apologise to those involved and once again we regret the fact that violence is still an issue in these Games."
