Olympics Rio 2016: US Swimmers broke petrol station door say Brazilian security source

Apparently the swimmers - including Ryan Lochte - were confronted by guards who asked them to pay for the damage Reuters reports a Brazilian security source said on Thursday.

However, later on Thursday Reuters reported Brazil’s Globo TV which claims on its web site the swimmers had gone into a bathroom at the station and caused damage.

The channel also aired CCTV images from the Petrol station, which shows the swimmers in an argument with staff at a petrol station who then appear to tell them to sit on the ground with their hands in the air.

The CCTV appears to show the swimmers arriving in a taxi and then arousing the suspicion of staff by going into a corridor, out of view of the camera. They try to leave the station but staff stop them.

A different camera shows three of the swimmers sitting on the ground at one point, including one who appeared to be gold medallist Ryan Lochte. He stood up to remonstrate with staff and his team mates pulled him back down.

The swimmers say they were robbed at gunpoint on Sunday morning by men impersonating police officers who took their wallets.

The claim follows doubt cast over the swimmers' story that they were mugged at gunpoint on a night out, which is being investigated after the swimmers gave conflicting versions of events.

A Brazilian judge subsequently ordered that the swimmers passports be confiscated pending further investigation, though it transpired Lochte had already left to return to the US.

Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were stopped from leaving the country as they were taken off a US-bound flight as it waited to leave the airport on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, the fourth team-mate James Feigen had remained in Rio.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) declined to comment. on the new claims, but confirmed two swimmers had been prevented from leaving the country and said earlier on Thursday that three of the swimmers who remain in Brazil would be helping police with their investigation.