There are a lot of ways in which these Summer Olympics could go to shit, and one of the ways some people may not have thought about were athletes getting jumped, mugged and/or beaten up while wandering the streets of Brazil.
That’s what happened to the bronze medal winner in the 163-pound Judo competition, Dirk Van Tichelt, though, who was attacked while celebrating his third place finish on Copacabana Beach when some jackass robbed him.
Per Yahoo! Sports:
Van Tichelt won bronze in the 73-kg judo competition on Monday. Naturally, he went off to Copacabana Beach that night to celebrate the achievement. And that’s where things went awry.
Van Tichelt was reportedly assaulted by a thief on the famous beach, and was struck in the face. He was taken to the hospital after the incident.
The thief, who was reportedly Brazilian, came away with a cellphone, but, crucially, not with a bronze medal.
My first question is how does this even happen to an Olympian who participated in JUDO?!? I’d expect this guy to be able to take anyone down and force them into some sort of “don’t you dare ever fuck with me” submission.
That may never be answered, but one thing that will is this, at least Dirk’s in good spirits about the whole thing, as he posed for this picture following the incident.
Dief in Rio steelt gsm en slaat Dirk Van Tichelt. Gevolg: blauw oog voor onze bronzen plak: https://t.co/kFpnQ36398 pic.twitter.com/rMuuoUoVF5
— sporza (@sporza) August 9, 2016
The thief may have kicked an world-class athlete’s ass and ran away with a phone, but at least Van Tichelt still has his medal to offset that shiner under his left eye.