Ugandan swimmer charged with rape

Joe Atuhaire was knocked out in the first heat

A Ugandan Olympic swimmer has been charged with raping a teenage girl by a court in Sydney.

Joe Atuhaire, 22, has not yet entered a plea to the charge, and was granted bail for A$20,000 ($11,000) on Monday pending a further hearing set for 19 October.

Mr Atuhaire is charged with sexual intercourse without consent with a 17-year-old girl in Sydney's western suburb of Lidcombe, near the athletes village.

He left the Olympic athletes' village at the Sydney Games last Friday after police issued a warrant for his arrest, and was detained in Adelaide at the weekend.

Mr Atuhaire, from Kampala, competed in 100m swimming event at the Games on 16 September, finishing last in his heat.

Athletes attacked

A newspaper in Uganda has called for an investigation into the case, which it bemoans as the latest in a long line of misdemeanours by the country's athletes.

During the last games in Atlanta, a Ugandan boxer was arrested and charged with using false currency.

The New Vision paper says indiscipline and corruption amongst its athletes are "the single big reason why our sportsmen have failed to achieve any recognisable success."

"Sportsmen are the country's ambassadors internationally, and it is about time they behaved," it states.

The paper also attacks Uganda's olympic panel for selecting 'tourist friendly' athletes who are 'not genuine sportsmen.'