Dutch Olympians arrested for "indecent behavior" by "gay cyclists" in United States
Former Olympic athletes Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker were arrested in the United States last week for “indecent behavior” by “gay cyclists.” The two cyclists told the story in Ten Dam’s podcast Live Slow, Ride Fast, NOS reported.
The former professional athletes were in Oklahoma to train for Unbound, the biggest gravel race of the year. “24 hours after Thomas arrived in America, we were both handcuffed and driven to the Marietta jail in two police cars,” said Ten Dam.
The two had stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant after three hours of training. They decided to freshen up in the parking lot before going in, helping each other rinse off with a bottle of water. “After Thomas had rinsed me off, I quickly changed my pants between the car doors,” Ten Dam said.
“But as I did so, I heard someone shouting furiously across the street.” A man was clearly unhappy with the impromptu shower. A short time later, the police approached Ten Dam and Dekker in the restaurant and escorted them outside.
“We stood outside with the police officer, and within five minutes, there were five police cars,” Ten Dam said. “At that moment, the man who had been yelling at Thomas came over and shouted for Thomas to be put in jail.”
The police handcuffed the cyclists and took them to jail. “We were told that we had been charged with indecent behavior. The charges stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles like two gay cyclists.”
They spent about 10 hours in custody before posting bail of 185 dollars each and being released. The police told them they were scheduled to appear in court two days later, but the case against them was dropped beforehand.
Ten Dam took part in the 2008 Summer Olympics, and worked as a professional cyclist from 2002-2019. The 43-year-old took 8th place in the 2014 Tour de France, and 9th place in La Vuelta in 2012.
Dekker, 39, rode professionally for ten years, starting in 2005. He took part in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and qualified for the Beijing Games four years later, but withdrew before the event.
