Australian Paralympian robbed at gunpoint in Rio

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(Image credit: YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 21 June 2016

The Australian Olympic Committee is demanding additional security at the Rio Games after a Paralympian was robbed at gunpoint on the streets of Rio de Janeiro Sunday. Australian Paralympic sailor Liesl Tesch and team official Sarah Ross were riding bikes outside their hotel when two men approached them. One pulled out a gun and pointed it at Tesch before stealing both women's bikes. "He then said something else and pointed the gun at me and pushed me in the shoulder and I just toppled over with my bicycle and he just grabbed my bicycle, and the other guy was wrestling the bicycle from our team physio," Tesch said. "And they just rode off into the park. It was absolutely horrific."

Australian Olympic Committee Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller said this is "not an isolated incident." "It's got to a point now, though, that we are demanding that steps and measures are taken to ensure that all our team members who go to Rio for the Olympic Games next month will be safe," Chiller said.