Olympic Village opens to athletes, Australia boycotts
BLOW TO HOSTS: Host country Brazil struggles to show all is well with 2016 Olympics slated to begin from August 5
RIO DE JANEIRO: The Olympic Village in Rio opened its doors to the world’s athletes on Sunday, less than two weeks before the Games begin — but Australia immediately boycotted the facility, calling it “simply not safe or ready.”
The criticism was another embarrassing blow for host Brazil, which is struggling to show all will be well with the 2016 Olympics to open on August 5, despite low ticket sales and general public apathy amid a deep recession.
The Olympic Village, a 31-building complex located in the Barra da Tijuca district in the west of Rio de Janeiro, is meant to house more than 18,000 athletes and coaching staff over the coming weeks.
Some of the Brazilian delegation were to move on Sunday into the official lodgings, which are all fairly basic shared rooms fitted with anti-mosquito devices to prevent the spread of Zika. Hundreds of thousands of condoms are also being supplied.
But Australia’s delegation spurned the Village as being riddled with problems, especially with wiring and plumbing, and said its athletes would continue to be put up in nearby hotels for the time being.
“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,” the head of the Australian team, Kitty Chiller, said in a statement. The system failed a test on Saturday in which taps and toilets were turned on in apartments on several floors, she said.
“Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was ‘shorting’ in the electrical wiring.” She said other delegations, including those from Britain and New Zealand, were experiencing the same problems.
Chiller said she would reassess the situation at the Village after further tests on plumbing and fire safety, but cautioned that “there is much work to be done.”
As dire as the Australian description of the Village sounded, one of the 207 delegations to bed down in the facility was more relieved on Sunday to find out its athletes would be able to make it to Rio.
Russia, whose participation had been uncertain following revelations of state-run doping, hailed a decision by the International Olympic Committee to not impose a blanket ban on all its sportsmen and women. The IOC ordered individual sports federations to decide whether Russian competitors should take part in the Rio Games.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko responded by telling R-Sport news agency: “I am absolutely sure that the majority of the Russian team will meet the criteria.” — AFP