Australia Refuses to Move Into Olympic Athletes' Village in Rio

Josh Luckenbaugh | July 25, 2016
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Controversy once again struck the Rio Olympics this weekend, as on Sunday the athletic contingent from Australia refused to move in to their allocated building in the athletes' village, citing problems in their building's "gas, electricity and plumbing."

In a statement, Australia's Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller explained why she's keeping her athletes away from the village: 

Problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean. In operations areas water has come through the ceiling resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring. [...] Extra maintenance staff and over one thousand cleaners have been engaged to fix the problems and clean the Village but the faults, particularly the plumbing issues have not been resolved. 

Last night (Saturday), we decided to do a “stress test” where taps and toilets were simultaneously turned on in apartments on several floors to see if the system could cope once the athletes are in-house. The system failed. Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was “shorting” in the electrical wiring.  

Chiller went on to say that she was going to reassess the situation in the evening, expressing her thankfulness to the International Olympic Committee and the Rio Organising Committee for their cooperation. According to reports, other countries, including Great Britain and New Zealand, also expressed concerns with the conditions of the athletes' village, but none went as far as refusing to move in to their building.

However, Rio's Mayor Eduardo Paes did not take kindly to the Australian team's complaints:

 

 

Australia's refusal to put up with poor living conditions is just the latest in a series of incidents looming over this year's Olympic Games, which are scheduled to start August 3. Several athletes have withdrawn from participation after citing concerns of the Zika virus and a "super bacteria" that was discovered in beaches around the Olympic venues. On top of health concerns, the entire Russian team was nearly banned from the Games after members of the team were found guilty of doping. 

Suffice it to say, the IOC will be making its best efforts to solve the issues in the athletes' village quickly and quietly before more countries boycott the facility.  

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