 |
| Markus Rogan © Getty Images |
Austrian swimmer Markus Rogan was hospitalised in Rome with facial bruises and a foot injury following what he said was an attack by bouncers at a disco near the Italian capital.
Rogan, 27, told the Austria Press Agency that four bouncers beat
him up on Saturday night as he attempted to re-enter a discotheque in
Ostia, on the seaside near Rome, after being ordered to leave "for
no apparent reason". The night club said that the swimmer was
ordered to leave for security reasons that included dancing drunk
with a broken bottle in his hands. The club said that Rogan also
fell as he attempted to get back inside the club.
Austrian newspapers published photos of a badly bruised Rogan on
their front pages on Monday.
Police in Ostia said on Monday morning that nobody was immediately
available for comment.
The incident occurred after Rogan was eliminated from the World
Championships in Rome. The Austrian won silver in the 100m and
200m backstroke at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and gold in the
200 backstroke in the 2008 worlds in Manchester, England.
"When I stepped back inside again, four bouncers jumped me," he
said.
Fabio Balini, an executive with the Shilling club, said that the
swimmer was with his teammates when he was asked to leave by the
club's personnel as part of standard security procedures. Balini
said Rogan could be a danger to himself or others because he was
drunk.
Balini said he had interviewed witnesses and reviewed security
tapes and that there was no evidence that the personnel had acted
improperly.
Rogan told APA he spent two nights in a hospital with bruises
and an injury to his left foot, which was severely swollen. It was
unclear whether any bones were broken, but Rogan said he was taken
into the clinic in a wheelchair as a precaution.
"Pretty much everything hurts," Rogan told APA on Sunday.
The clinic in Rome where he was taken, Villa Stuart, declined to
comment, citing privacy reasons and a request by the swimmer.
Paul Schauer, secretary-general of the Austrian Swimming
Federation, said officials were looking into the incident.
"Violence is naturally inexcusable no matter what happened,"
Schauer said.
 | |  | | | Remember to go to www.supersport.com on your Mobile phone and keep in touch with the latest scores wherever you are. |  |
| |  | |  |
|
