Athletes’ facilities don’t worry Canadian officials
Things in Rio de Janeiro are going into the toilet.
Now then, if only athletes and staff could flush them.
Australia’s Olympic delegation raised concerns on Sunday over “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring” inside athletes’ apartments ahead of next month’s Games in Brazil, the Guardian reports.
Poor conditions led to members of the Australian team moving into nearby hotels while corrective work was underway Monday — a concern given athletes, including Canada’s, will arrive in droves this week.
The Athletes’ Village in Rio was supposed to be, uh, overflowing with what organizers called creature comforts.
The Olympians, they said, would be treated like “kings,” according to a release last month.
“We are doing all we can so that athletes don’t need to leave the village,” said Mario Client, the director of the Athletes’ Village.
“They can go out to compete and come straight back.”
The Aussies certainly didn’t stay long. Nor have they returned.
Kitty Chiller, the head of the Australian delegation, said some of the accommodations simply aren’t safe or ready less than two weeks ahead of the opening ceremony.
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), meanwhile, doesn’t seem overly concerned.
In an email to Postmedia Monday morning, the COC indicated they were reasonably happy with the Olympic Village.
“While there have been some initial operational challenges in our section of the Athletes’ Village, we are addressing these and have managed to find good solutions,” said Chris Overholt, the CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
“We are generally satisfied with our village accommodations and thanks to some incredible work by our Mission Team Staff working in close collaboration with Rio 2016, we can say that we expect to be ready to welcome our Team Canada athletes when they arrive in Rio in the coming days on time and at this time, without interruption to our plan.”
It was just two years ago that athletes complained of living conditions in Sochi, where some accommodations within the Athletes’ Village were akin to papier mache, Winter Olympians also reported dirty tap water and exposed wiring in Russia.
Rio’s Olympic Village, which will house close to 18,000 athletes and staffers, was billed as one of the biggest and best ever, containing untold numbers of bells and whistles.
The infrastructure also includes 360 kilometres of piping and 7.5km of wiring, some of which appears to be faulty with the Games set to begin Aug. 5.
Village issues, however, pale in comparison to the hysteria surrounding the Zika virus, which has caused a number of high-profile athletes to walk away from competing.
There are also concerns surrounding water quality after pre-Olympic testing revealed dangerous levels of bacteria in Rio lagoons, where rowing and canoeing will take place.