Rio Olympics 2016: Australia swimmers Emma McKeon & Josh Palmer get curfew

Emma McKeon and Josh Palmer "breached disciplinary protocols"

Two Australian swimmers have been given a curfew after failing to return to the Olympic Village in Rio on Tuesday following a night out with team-mates.

Josh Palmer and Emma McKeon, who have also been banned from participating in the closing ceremony, must now remain in the Village between 8pm and 8am.

They will only travel to sporting events in official Rio 2016 transport.

Australia's chef de mission Kitty Chiller described the pair's behaviour as "unacceptable".

McKeon, 22, won four medals at the Rio Games, while 25-year-old Palmer finished fifth in his 100m breaststroke heat.

The group left a nightclub in Copacabana in the early hours of the morning, with McKeon and Palmer's team-mates heading back to the Village and not breaking any rules.

Emma McKeon won 4x100m freestyle relay gold, silvers in the 4x100m medley and 4x200m freestyle relays and bronze in the 200m freestyle

McKeon chose to stay the night with swimming friends in the Copa district without informing team management, while Palmer headed to a beach kiosk with a friend and continued drinking.

Palmer told officials that after his friend left he was approached by a man who forced him to withdraw $1,000 in cash from a nearby machine - it is not clear if that refers to US dollars (£760) or Australian dollars (£580).

He has chosen not to make a formal complaint to police about the alleged robbery.

Both athletes have apologised.

McKeon later tweeted to say: "To clarify, I've followed AOC safety protocol in not travelling to village alone. My error was not texting my team manager."

Her father Ron, who represented Australia in swimming at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, believes his daughter's punishment was severe.

"Just personally it's the harshness of it," he told Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"I do understand the sensitivities surrounding all this and as a parent I totally support the AOC's views and their security concerns first and foremost.

"In this case my concern is the weight of the sanction and that it may have overstepped what did occur."

Australian officials have now imposed a 2am curfew on all their athletes for the remainder of the Games.

"Given the security problems we have encountered over the past few weeks, I find the behaviour of the disciplined athletes disrespectful to the remainder of the team," added Chiller.

It comes after a Team GB athlete was robbed while returning to their accommodation, while USA swimmers have been stopped from leaving Brazil after claiming they were the victims of a robbery.