Australian athletes in hotels with village ‘not safe or ready’

RIO DE JANEIRO — The head of Australia’s delegation said Sunday its 700 athletes and staff would not move into rooms at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for at least two days, citing electrical and plumbing problems in the sprawling Athletes Village less than two weeks before the start of the troubled South American Games.

“Electricity and water is not a good combination,” Kitty Chiller, the head of the Australian delegation, told reporters.

She said this was her fifth Olympics, and she came down hard on village preparations.

“I have never experienced a village in this state — or lack of state — of readiness at this point in time,” she said.

Australia’s protests came as the 31-building village, which will house 18,000 athletes and officials at the height of the Games, opened officially Sunday. It was not clear how many athletes were housed in the village on the day.

This is the latest problem for the Olympics, which have been hit by the Zika virus, security threats, water pollution and severe budget cuts.

Chiller and Australian team spokesman Mike Tancred described a wide array of plumbing, electrical and cleaning issues. Tancred said 10 of the 31 buildings were determined to be inhabitable.

“We did a stress test on Saturday, turned on the taps and flushed the toilets, and water came flooding down the walls,” Tancred said.

Chiller listed the same problems and added more.

“Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was ‘shorting’ in the electrical wiring,” she said. “We have been living in nearby hotels because the village is simply not safe or ready.”