"This is not an isolated incident, athletes have been mugged while training or competing in Rio test events and we want our athletes protected," Chiller said. SYDNEY (AP) " After two members of the Australian Paralympic sailing squad were robbed at gunpoint, Australia's Olympic team leader is urging Brazilian authorities to implement Olympic-scale security now in Rio de Janeiro "before an athlete gets hurt." The weekend incident in Rio highlighted fears of crime against foreign athletes ahead of the Aug. 5-21 Summer Games. "Maybe the organizing committee should mobilize their games-time defense force early," Kitty Chiller, Australia's Olympic team leader, said Tuesday. Tesch raced at the Paralympic sailing venue Monday, and was quoted as saying of the robbery: "We are both shaken, but physically we're both OK."Continued below.

Source: New Zealand Herald June 21, 2016 03:38 UTC