Van Tichelt believed that the woman had gotten into the hotel and broke the lock to get inside himself. According to hotel staff the woman never was able to enter the hotel and must have given Van Tichelt the slip. Hotel staff would say Van Tichelt looked, smelt, sounded and wobbled like someone who had been out celebrating a bronze medal win with some drinks, so perhaps his fighting abilities had been diminished by alcohol somewhat when things got physical.
Witnesses would say that Van Tichelt refused to leave and accused hotel staff of harbouring the woman. As staff tried to usher the Belgian out of the hotel things got physical and reports are that Van Tichelt tried to throw a punch (which is illegal in Judo, but legal in Brazilian Hotel Fights) but missed and then was given a black eye by a hotel staff worker who also just so happens to train in jiu-jitsu. Several punches were thrown but reports are that it was the Best Western Hotel receptionist who bested the judoka in this particular incident.
Van Tichelt would make media appearances the next day sporting a black eye, while the Belgian Olympic Communications Director gave a truthful, yet hilariously incomplete version of events with the statement:
“The mobile phone of Dirk’s training partner had just been stolen and he ran to try to catch the thief and ended up being hit in the face by another person.”
Unfortunately it doesn’t appear that it was actual jiu-jitsu as much as it was punches to the face that subdued Van Tichelt. This still sends the message that if you only train in one discipline you might be cautioned against picking a fight in Brazil, because there is a good chance that the person trains jiu-jitsu.
