Naoya Tomita Now Denies Stealing Camera at Asian Games

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Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

NAGOYA – A month after being suspended for 17 months by the Japanese Swimming Federation, Japanese breaststroker Naoya Tomita now denies that he stole a professional photographer’s camera at the Asian Games.

News broke during the Asian Games that Tomita was kicked off the Japanese team while in Incheon, South Korea to compete in the Asian Games.  While in South Korea, Tomita admitted to stealing a camera left poolside by a South Korean photojournalist and that the act was confirmed by video surveillance.  Tomita was later fined one million won (or about $1,000 U.S.) for the theft.  Japanese Swimming nearly banned Tomita for life, but backed off and only applied a 17-month ban.

Today during a press conference in Japan, however, Tomita has recanted his admission that he stole the camera. He has now claimed that an “unknown man” placed the camera in his bag and he didn’t realize it until he already was back in the athletes’ village.

Tomita then stated that he admitted to stealing the camera in Japan because he was told by South Korean police that “if I admitted it, the punishment would be light and it wouldn’t become a serious matter.”

“I shouldn’t have confessed,” Tomita told local media. “The police showed me pictures of the security cameras only on a smartphone and the images were very rough and blurred. They didn’t show me taking a camera.”

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matt0621jp
matt0621jp
9 years ago

Not sure why Incheon police is refusing to share the video evidence with his lawyer in Japan? https://twitter.com/matt0621jp/status/530896151545798658

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