AUSTRALIAN athletes could be sent home soon after finishing their Olympic competition in Tokyo as it was revealed drunk swimmer Josh Palmer was only found at 2pm near a Copacabana beach.

Australian swimmer Palmer’s Tuesday night (Weds EST) bender saw him forced by a robber to withdraw $1000 from an ATM early on Wednesday morning (Weds night EST), then was later found by two businessman dazed and disoriented.

Palmer has refused to pursue the matter with police despite Australian Olympic Committee chef de mission boss Kitty Chiller urging him to take the matter further.

The AOC said Palmer was only found at 2pm, with one of those businessmen an Australian who contacted the Australian Consulate.

Fellow swimmer Emma McKeon stayed with friends overnight in Copacabana, reluctant to get a taxi home by herself, but failed to tell swimming officials in breach of the security policy.

Both have been banned from the closing ceremony and subject to an 8pm village curfew, with the entire swimming team forced to adhere to a 2am policy.

media_camera Joshua Palmer of Australia competes in heat three of the Men's 100m Breaststroke

Chiller admitted the circus over American swimmer Ryan Lochte’s fabricated tale of a robbery might have influenced Palmer’s decision not to involve police.

Lochte and three other American swimmers initially claimed they were robbed at gunpoint but Brazilian security sources are now claiming they made it up to cover a gas-station fight.

They fought with a security guard and broke a bathroom, later offering “100 reals and $20” in an attempt at compensation for the damage.

Chiller said she is deadly serious about a review that might see athletes sent home several days after competing, a policy many European nations have adopted.

“That will certainly come into our review. We put increased protocols into place for this Games to ensure a high-performance environment at the village remains in place,’’ she said.

“If we need to go further to ensure that remains in place and also the safety of our athletes remains in place, absolutely it’s something we would look at.

media_camera Emma McKeon with the Australian Medley Relay team

“Everything we put in place is not (about being) the fun police, it’s not the party poopers, it is ensuring their safety remains paramount.”

Chiller said Palmer’s ban related to his failure to alert officials about his whereabouts rather than confusion over the ATM robbery.

Yet she could not detail what Palmer was drinking or whether there were illicit substances involved.

“Certainly I don’t know if there were any substances involved, he admitted he had been drinking and that’s all we know,’’ she said.

“He told us he was asked to go to the ATM and $1000 was withdrawn and that has been confirmed. Josh has decided not to go to the police and we suggested he did.

“We are not able to investigate any further and we can’t force him to go to the police.

“We believe what he said, we have no reason to doubt what he said.

“He is angry and he has come back with what happened to him around 10am yesterday morning and 1.40pm in the afternoon. We have no reason to doubt him.”

The story of Lochte and his fellow American swimmers continues to unravel and Chiller admitted it might have impacted Palmer’s decision on involving police.

“There has been a lot happening in the last couple of days with going to the police. We have given Josh every opportunity and the pros and cons of going to police.

“We can’t force him. It’s his decision at the end of the day.”