A week ago, if you'd asked us what the biggest story of the Rio Olympics would be, we could've offered up a number of viable guesses:
We may have said it would be Simone Biles' record-breaking dominance in gymnastics.
Or maybe Michael Phelps' retirement after racking up an additional six medals for Team USA.
We almost certainly would not have guessed that the development that would generate the biggest buzz out of Rio would involve the ongoing controversy surrounding US swimmer Ryan Lochte being robbed at gunpoint.
Last week, Lochte told reporters that he and three other American swimmers were forced to hand over their wallets to gunmen who initially posed as police officers.
In a bizarre twist, Brazilian authorities accused Lochte and the other swimmers of lying about the incident, and made an attempt at detaining all four of them for further questioning.
A warrant was issued authorizing police to seize their passports, but Lochte had already arrived back in the States by the time Rio cops arrived at the Olympic Village.
The other swimmers, Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, have been detained indefinitely with two of them - Bentz and Conger - being removed from a plane that was soon to take off after they successfully passed through customs.
And why would Brazilian authorities treat the victims of a crime as though they were suspects?
Well, according to some reports, it's because the men are under suspicion of fabricating their story in order to cover up a violent attack against a security guard.
ABC News' Matt Gutman broke the story on Twitter moments ago with a series of tweets detailing the latest developments in this increasingly bizarre international incident:
"Brazilian authorities tell @ABC video shows "US swimmer" "breaking down" gas station restroom door "fighting" w/ security guard," Gutman tweeted.
He added:
"Brazil sources: #RyanLochte + 3 swimmers fabricated robbery story. Video shows swimmer "fighting" w/security at gas station @GMA"
Several other media outlets have since confirmed that Brazilian authorities are claiming to be in possession of video that shows one of the swimmers attacking a security guard, who reportedly confronted the unnamed American after he was spotted behaving erratically in a gas station bathroom.
Since Lochte was the first to high-tail it out of the country many on social media are speculating that he was the one who instigated the fight.
The incident has been dubbed #LochteGate, and is already a trending topic on Twitter.
We'll have further updates on this story as more information becomes available.
