Rio's Olympic Village Is Apparently One Big Hot Mess
The Olympic accommodation for athletes has blocked toilets, leaking pipes, and water coming down the walls, according to the Australian team.
The chef de mission for the Australian Olympic Team, Kitty Chiller, announced Sunday that her team would not be staying in Rio de Janeiro's village for Olympic athletes due to many serious issues with the facilities.
One of the units within the Olympic and Paralympic Village for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Buda Mendes / Getty Images
The village will host up to 17,200 people, including athletes and team officials, during the Games and up to 6,000 during the Paralympic Games.
Teams began to arrive at Rio's village on July 22 and will continue to arrive all this week, ahead of the Olympics, which begin on August 5.
Leo Correa / AP
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.
The Australian organizing team was due to move into the facilities on July 21, but have been staying in nearby hotels instead. As more athletes arrive, they will be put up in hotels as well, Chiller said.
An IOC spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that some of the rooms have been finished, while others are still being worked on "overnight and 24 hours a day" by IOC and Rio 2016 workers.
"Unfortunately, Rio 2016 expects this to take another few days," the statement added. "Athletes that are arriving in the Village and whose accommodation is not finished will be placed in the best available accommodation in other buildings."
The spokesperson also commented specifically on Australia's statement, saying that the IOC understands the boycotting of their facilities is a "temporary measure," and that "Australia still expects that its accommodation will be delivered to an appropriate standard in the coming days, which will allow them to move their athletes into their Games time residences."
In her statement, Chiller said she had decided "no Australian Team member will move into [their] allocated building," but said she would reassess the situation on Sunday evening.
The IOC spokesperson added that "several hundred other residents" are expected to move into the Village Sunday.