Australian athletes were sanctioned for sitting in the wrong seats at the men's basketball semi-final ©Getty Images

Australian officials have apologised to nine athletes forced to pay fines by Brazilian police for falsifying documents after they sat in the wrong seats while watching the men's Olympic basketball semi-final here. 

The group, representing six different sports, sat in upgraded seats for last night's Australia versus Serbia men's basketball semi-final.

They were subject to two days of questioning for "falsifying documents", an offence that can carry a prison sentence of up to five years in Brazil, before being ordered to each pay a fine of BRL10,000 reais (£2,386/$3,120/€2,780) fine per athlete

Those involved were cyclists Ashlee Ankudinoff and Melissa Hoskins, rugby sevens player Ed Jenkins, archers Alec Potts and Ryan Tyack, rowers Olympia Aldersey, Fiona Albert and Lucy Stephan and hockey player Simon Orchard.

Australia's Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller has insisted the Olympians were "definitely not at fault".

Steps are now being taken for the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) to pay the fines.

“The athletes were held at a police station for many hours and I apologise for the trauma they went through, the problem with the accreditation was not their fault” said Chiller, who met with those involved along with AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong today.

"For legal reasons I am not in a position to elaborate except to say it is important to know that the Australian athletes were definitely not at fault. 

"I am very disappointed our athletes had to go through what then went through last night."

Australian Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller has defended the nine athletes fined more than $3,000 each by Brazilian police for sitting in the wrong seats at a basketball match and claimed it was not their fault ©Getty Images
Australian Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller has defended the nine athletes fined more than $3,000 each by Brazilian police for sitting in the wrong seats at a basketball match and claimed it was not their fault ©Getty Images

An internal investigation is now taking place.

It marks latest case of a strong police reaction against members in the Olympic Movement, something that has intensified since four American swimmers supposedly fabricated a story about being robbed at gunpoint.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board member Patrick Hickey was arrested in a dawn raid and held in a high-security prison for alleged involvement in a Irish ticketing scam.

But IOC President Thomas Bach dismissed claims that "bad blood" now exists between Brazilian authorities and the sporting world.

"This I cannot see," he said.

He also resisted the opportunity to defend the swimmers and criticise the authorities for their response.

"We respect fully the laws here in Brazil and the legal authorities," he said.