Internet Desk: Spain’s Olympic gold-medal winning sailor Fernando Echavarri said he was fortunate to have escaped with his life after being robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro as he and two fellow Spaniards walked to breakfast.
Echavarri and two other members of the Spanish sailing team were robbed Friday morning when five young men — “not more than 16 years old,” Echavarri said — poked pistol barrels into the Spaniards’ ribs and chests.
Echavarri said they handed over their cellphones and other minor electronic gear, satisfying their assailants who ran off.
The Spaniards, who have been in Rio for almost two weeks, were staying in Santa Teresa, a hilltop neighborhood popular with tourists and dotted with restaurants and bars, and a 20-minute walk downhill to the sailing venue.
Echavarri, who won gold in the 2008 Olympics, said he was also robbed at knife point in 2009 in the Copacabana Beach neighborhood while competing in the Volvo Ocean race. He called that situation “controlled” with experienced thieves who knew what they wanted.