<b>By Our Olympics Staff

Fishermen are hunting a giant octopus which attacked Olympic swimmers as they trained in the sea off Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.</b>

Top athletes including America's Michael Phelps were nearly dragged to their deaths as the giant sea creature wrapped fifteen-foot tentacles around their bodies.


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The swimmers managed to escape when their support teams, watching the training from a boat, freed them from the grip of the fearsome octopus, and frightened it away.

Despite being left with horrific scars from the tentacle suckers, Phelps and Chinese swimmer Wang Qun were able to compete in events the next day, with the American bagging his 21st gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly.

<center><a href="http://www.suffolkgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/giant-octopus-olympics.jpg"><img src="http://www.suffolkgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/giant-octopus-olympics.jpg" alt="giant octopus attacks Olympic swimmers" width="772" height="376" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4260" /></a><i>Horrific octopus attacks left Phelps and other swimmers scarred and scared</center></i><br><br>

Suffolk marine expert Martin Brody said the octopus was a giant cephalopod mollusc found commonly in the South Atlantic Ocean. "This one does sound quite large," he said. "Normally they feed on the ocean floor but they have been known to go to the surface to hunt."

Bartholomew Quint, a fisherman in Rio, said: "We have been offered a large bounty prize to catch the octopus before someone gets killed. But I think I'm going to need a bigger boat."

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