EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Paralympic legends Neil and Lora Fachie open up on the trauma of their mugging hell in Rio … and how it has damaged their Paris dream

The sun was rapidly setting in the Rio sky as Neil Fachie returned to his accommodation from the velodrome. Next to him stood his wife and fellow competitor Lora and cycling teammate Corinne Hall.

It had been a good day. The UCI Track World Championships were underway and the trio were all among the medalists.

They had walked this route before; a 15 minute journey from the velodrome, along a road that was well lit and – apparently – safe. There was no reason to think that night would be any different.

As they approached a corner, however, the situation would change dramatically. Unbeknownst to the three Paralympians, a group of criminals were waiting.

It was clear that the athletes were vulnerable. Neil, who has the congenital eye condition retinitis pigmentosa, becomes completely blind in the dark. Lora, meanwhile, lost her sight as a child and works with Hall as her pilot when competing in paracycling events. According to the Fachies, they were an ‘easy target’.

“It happened after our tandem team sprint event,” Neil told Mail Sport.

‘We won silver medals and were on the podium, and then we went back from the velodrome to our hotel. It is a fairly well lit main road that was supposed to be safe. We were about 100 meters away from the hotel and there was a dark corner. Now that it is dark, I cannot see at all in the dark, and at that moment my vision is nothing. I have a degenerative condition, so I haven’t been able to see in areas with street lights my entire life. I am completely blind, and at that stage very visibly blind. At that point, where we were walking, it was a darker area. I couldn’t see anything at all.

‘Suddenly I realized that people had walked up from my right and I heard Corrine shouting and saying: “Take it, take it”.

‘I was grabbed by my bag and thrown to the side. I was separated from Lora and she was very upset as she clearly had no idea what was going on.

‘There were guys trying to take my bag away from me, so I just let him go. I was aware that Lora was really worried that I had been taken away. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. I couldn’t see it, so I didn’t know if they had any weapons on them. All I know from conversations afterwards is that there were three.

‘The only time I saw someone take my bag was when I was spun around and this man finally appeared in silhouette – so I could make out his figure, but I had no real idea of ​​what he looked like. I just kind of had an awareness of them from the right side, and it was hard to calculate what was happening. One moment I heard a scream and then I was thrown around 180 degrees and separated from everyone else. I’m quite proud of the fact that I realized quite quickly what was going on and dropped off my bag. It was quite tight and I don’t know what they would have done to get the bag if I hadn’t let it go.

‘Obviously I was worried about Lora and I spent some time making sure she was okay while the boys were away. Luckily she was quite audible, so I was able to find her – and Corrine was with her, so that made it easier. Lora was quite upset, so it took a while to get anything out of her. They didn’t touch her at all, but because she was separated from both of us and only feared the worst, it made it much harder.”

Startled and shaken, the athletes quickly returned to their hotel. The Fachies insist security had to be present the night they were attacked. They rightly wondered why this was not the case. Mail Sport contacted both the UCI and the event organizers for clarity on the situation, but received no response.

“There would be police there,” Neil said. ‘We understood that the route would be patrolled. There was a much larger security presence after the incident. The irony is that before every track event in Rio there was a video talking about the safe environment in which we could compete. I found that quite annoying – it wasn’t that safe at all.’

That night, the Fachies lost all their passports, Neil’s phone, wallet and other items he had regularly used while cycling. Crucially, they had also lost their medals won at the event they were still competing in. This in itself was a blow. None of the medals were found. However, Mail Sport understands that new ones are now being engraved and will be given to the three riders once the engraving is complete.

“I had packed my passports, phone, wallet, medals we had just won and some cycling gear,” Fachie said.

‘You can imagine that it was quite an annoyance to cancel cards as best as possible without a telephone. It’s extremely difficult because all the apps you use are trying to send passcodes to your phone! We were aware of people using our card at local supermarkets and quickly tried to cancel it. The big problem was getting passports, but British Cycling was good and helped with that. It was all just stressful and unpleasant. I don’t think it stressed me out in the long run, but it was the frustration of not being able to see it all happening.”

Meanwhile, Lora was dealing with her own trauma. Luckily, she had left their son Fraser with her parents, who had also traveled to Brazil for the event.

“I didn’t have a bag and I was between Corrine and Neil, so they (the robbers) went to them and I got separated from both of them,” she reflected.

“All I heard was screaming and shouting and I didn’t know where they were. It was scary, and not something I would like to repeat. It was a very strange feeling. Luckily my mom and dad were only about 200 yards ahead of us on the road and as they approached that corner a local Brazilian came running up to them and asked them where they were going. He had seen that there were unreliable people up ahead. He even walked them back to the hotel. I wish I knew who he was, to thank him, because it could have been my mom and dad and Fraser who were targeted. I’m so glad Fraser wasn’t there because I think that would have been much worse and much scarier.

‘Looking back, the perpetrators knew what they were doing. They had taken into account that there were somewhat vulnerable people walking to and from the hotel, and we were an easy target. I mean, there were three of us and only one of us could see what was going on. It’s such a shame because it’s not the first time I’ve been to Rio and there are a lot of lovely people there, but we are aware that there is also a high crime rate there.

“The police found a few pieces that had been thrown away and both of our racing skinsuits had been thrown out of Neil’s bag. They kept the medals. Perhaps one of the worst things was the invasion of privacy. They got access to Neil’s phone and that was quite scary. It’s the biggest thing I struggled with: knowing that our privacy had been invaded. There are a lot of personal photos that I know we can get on iCloud, but just the fact that someone had access to them makes me uncomfortable.”

For Lora, the difficulties didn’t end there. Her performance schedule included two more stages at the competition: the individual pursuit and the competitive sprint. They were important races. The ones she felt she needed to solidify her position on the track for the upcoming Paralympic Games. However, the trauma of the event just days before forced Fachie and Hall to withdraw from the competition. It was a huge blow for the Paralympian, which could have enormous consequences.

Fachie must now collect enough points and prove her worth over the course of the next month to hope for a coveted place at this summer’s Games in Paris. Fachie, a two-time Paralympic champion and bronze medalist, has not missed a Games since 2016. The idea that she might miss out in Paris is almost unthinkable – and Fachie is all too aware of the challenges she faces ahead of the July selection.

“We now have two incredibly strong British women’s tandems, who came first and second in the race we couldn’t participate in,” she said.

‘When I rode the nationals a month earlier, I set the fastest time in the world this year, so I hope they take that into account. There are extenuating circumstances, but we’ll see what happens. I still have opportunities along the way. There are two World Cups on the schedule, so I will get a chance to put my case forward if I can perform there, and hopefully that will be good enough. I hope I have a strong case, but it would have been nice to have gone in, won a world title and earned my place straight away.”

Her concerns, meanwhile, were echoed by her husband as he reflected on the criminals who targeted them in Rio.

“I’m just so angry about it,” Fachie admitted.

“It feels so, so stupid. This may have had a major impact on the coming year for Lora. These people come by and have no influence whatsoever on it. That’s the biggest frustration of all. You just have to hope it didn’t affect her chances. I’m confident they would have won the Chase if they’d had the chance to race it in Rio. Lora needed it from her own personal point of view, so it’s a real hit. After the last few years it’s just really annoying. I thought it was all sorted out and we thought we had done everything right, but it’s these factors that you have no control over and that sometimes just bite.

‘I won two gold medals and a silver in Rio, but I can’t get rid of that feeling. I should be very happy. I’m so disappointed for Lora. It had a much bigger impact on her than it did on me – and it has a big impact on me too.

‘I don’t know what it would look like if one of us gets to go to Paris and the other doesn’t. I would have said that before these championships she was the favorite and I wasn’t. I’m hopeful that I’ll get to go, but there are no guarantees. Lora’s time at the national championships in February would have won her the world title in Rio – that’s pretty strong evidence. I would like to say that I have faith that she will make it.”