Austrian swimmer Markus Rogan was hospitalized 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 (APA) 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 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.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Austrian newspapers published photos of a badly bruised Rogan on their front pages on Monday.
Police in Ostia said on Monday evening that they had not been called to the scene during the incident but were looking into it. They declined to give any details.
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 200m backstroke in the worlds in Manchester, England, last year.
“When I stepped back inside again, four bouncers jumped me,” he said.
Fabio Balini, an executive with the Shilling club, said 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.
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