--- title: Spanish Olympic Sailors Robbed at Gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro description: Two members and a coach of Spain's sailing team were robbed at gunpoint in a popular tourist area of Rio de Janeiro. canonical: https://time.com/4344783/spanish-sailing-team-robbery-olympics/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-23T15:37:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:45:39.688Z article:section: Sports og:title: Spanish Olympic Sailors Assaulted in Rio de Janeiro og:description: Two members of the team and a coach were robbed at gunpoint Saturday morning. og:url: https://time.com/4344783/spanish-sailing-team-robbery-olympics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ff08de4515d70f2/69889460f887dc31cbe95f8c/spanish-sailing-team-olympics-assault-rio.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: spanish sailing team olympics assault rio og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Spanish Olympic Sailors Assaulted in Rio de Janeiro twitter:description: Two members of the team and a coach were robbed at gunpoint Saturday morning. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ff08de4515d70f2/69889460f887dc31cbe95f8c/spanish-sailing-team-olympics-assault-rio.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Spanish Olympic Sailors Assaulted in Tourist Area of Rio de Janeiro  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 23, 2016 3:37 PM CUT  Tara Pacheco during the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships in in Santander, Spain. Tara Pacheco during the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships in in Santander, Spain.Mick Anderson/SAILINGPIX—Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 23, 2016 3:37 PM CUT Two members and a coach of Spain’s sailing team were [robbed at gunpoint](http://sports.yahoo.com/news/spanish-olympic-team-members-robbed-gunpoint-rio-184618288--oly.html "undefined") in a popular tourist area of Rio de Janeiro while in the city to train for the Olympic Games beginning in under three weeks. Fernando Echavarri, Tara Pacheco and coach Santi Lopez-Vazquez were “assaulted by five people armed with pistols,” said the Spanish sailing federation [in a statement](http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/members-spains-olympic-sailing-team-assaulted-rio-39278812 "undefined"), the AP reports. The Olympians were on their way to breakfast at the time, and were not hurt during the attack. “It was a very unpleasant experience,” [said](http://sports.yahoo.com/news/spanish-olympic-team-members-robbed-gunpoint-rio-184618288--oly.html "undefined") Lopez-Vázquez. “There were five youths with two pistols. They took all the work equipment we were carrying at that time.” [Security](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1931162,00.html "undefined") has been one of the [main concerns](http://time.com/3768709/rio-de-janeiro-2016-olympics/ "undefined") ahead of the games in Brazil’s capital. \[[_AP_](http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/members-spains-olympic-sailing-team-assaulted-rio-39278812 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4344783/spanish-sailing-team-robbery-olympics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4344783/spanish-sailing-team-robbery-olympics/"},"headline":"Spanish Olympic Sailors Assaulted in Tourist Area of Rio de Janeiro","datePublished":"2016-05-23T15:37:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:45:39.688Z","description":"Two members of the team and a coach were robbed at gunpoint Saturday morning","url":"https://time.com/4344783/spanish-sailing-team-robbery-olympics/","keywords":["Crime","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ff08de4515d70f2/69889460f887dc31cbe95f8c/spanish-sailing-team-olympics-assault-rio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ff08de4515d70f2/69889460f887dc31cbe95f8c/spanish-sailing-team-olympics-assault-rio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"spanish sailing team olympics assault rio","caption":"spanish sailing team olympics assault rio","creditText":"Mick Anderson/SAILINGPIX—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4344783/spanish-sailing-team-robbery-olympics/","name":"Spanish Olympic Sailors Assaulted in Tourist Area of Rio de Janeiro"}}]}] ```