26 July, 2016. 10:56

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

IN LIGHT OF RECENT SECURITY concerns ahead of the Rio Olympic Games, Australian Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller has unveiled the self-loading rifles that each of our Olympic heroes will be required to carry at all times when outside the athletes’ village.

After a Kiwi olympian was robbed at gunpoint over the weekend, Chiller says she’s not prepared to cut any corners when it comes to keeping our athletes safe.

Speak today from Rio de Janiero, the former pentathlete is refusing to apologise for the drastic action.

“These rifles are similar to the ones used that the Australian Army used to use in the 70’s and 80’s,” she said.

“As the teams begin leaving Australia this week, they’ll receive weapons training from their closest barracks – and upon being cleared by their instructors, they’ll be issued their rifle and be driven to the airport,”

“Make no mistake, these weapons aren’t toys. They’ll turn a Brazillian street urchin inside out from half a kilometre.”

In the right hands, the Lithgow L1A1G as they’ve been designated by the Department of Defence, with chomp through 650 7.62mm rounds per minute. Although the rifles issued to the athletes aren’t full-automatic, they’re still quite a potent deterrent against petty street crime.

The move comes after Michael Diamond was denied the privilege of competing at the games after having a bit of a boys night and getting pinged by some policemen.

He asked if he could go to provide protection, but was found that a shotgun didn’t have the range the AOC required to provide adequate protection.

More to come.