Rio Games: The Anatomy of a Robbery

Australian Liesl Tesch, who will be competing in the doublehanded SKUD18 event at the Paralympic Games, and team official Sarah Ross were robbed in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning, June 19. They were confronted by two men in a park near their hotel, and were robbed of their bikes at gunpoint. Liesl Tesch posted this report on her Facebook page…

Some things don’t happen too often in a lifetime, like being held up by gunpoint at the end of your morning cycle along the waterfront!

Sarah and I had a great ride. The main highway out the front of Flamengo Beach is closed every Sunday, and this morning it was set up for a running event, with strips of safety tape creating lanes that we couldn’t cross. We cycled to the end of the course, and turned back on the bike path on the waterfront, along Guanabara Bay under cloud-covered Sugarloaf Mountain.

We rode up to the end of the promenade to check out the absolute lack of construction on the Olympic Sailing viewing platform and then headed home. Instead of going over the overpass (because my bike had no gears), we cycled under thousands of people jogging along the road in their blue shirts, and headed home on one of our normal routes.

As we passed the back of the bus stop over the road from our house, two people jumped out from behind/beside the bus stop in front of me. Sarah’s bike (without brakes) crashed into mine just as the guy in front of me pointed a gun at me. Oopsy!

He mumbled something in Portuguese, lifting the gun upwards. Thinking he was asking for money, I lifted up my shirt to show I had nothing. He then gave me a shove in the shoulder with my free hand, and I toppled glamorously onto the cobblestones with my bike between my legs. Sarah was yelling at the guy who was stealing her bike as the guy with the gun grabbed my bike.

There were three people within 10 metres of us at the incident, who watched, and then just continued on their morning strolls. Leaving me in the ground and Sarah gobsmacked, the ‘baddies’ rode off into the park.

I picked myself up and we staggered across the road towards home, hand in hand, only to turn around as four other members of the Aussie Sailing team were returning from their morning walk, passing the same bus stop, less than 5 minutes behind us, oblivious.

Everyone stay safe in Rio! Keep our Aussie gun laws strong! Lucky to be Aussies!:)

Editor’s note: Local Rio sailor Colin Reed offers these comments…

“The under passes could be a concern. At my end of the park its never a problem as there is usually a few public guards around. However, the other end of the park is more tenuous, which is where the Team GBR 470 girls got held up last year. I use the over-pass opposite the Hotel Gloria with caution. The problem is that this route is by far the easiest to get from the marina over to Flamengo where the hotels are located.

“As for the people who witnessed the Australian robbery, and did nothing, this is totally normal… unfortunately.

“I have also seen at Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro a row of bikes from one of the national teams that had their colors and logos plastered all over them. The only thing missing was the sign in the sky that says ‘rob me’.”