Another boxer, the USA’s reigning Olympic and world middleweight champion Claressa Shields, wrote on her Facebook page: “I’m here to tell you, me and the Team USA boxing team have been here 5 days with 0 problems!”, adding that “Rio is a lovely place!”
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Less than two weeks before this summer’s Olympic Games are supposed to kick off in Rio de Janeiro, the head of the Australian team announced that the conditions at the Olympic village were not livable for their athletes.
Australia refused to check in at the Athletes Village when it officially opened on Sunday, complaining about water leaks, gas leaks, electrical faults and filth that delegation head Kitty Chiller said “endangered” athletes.
“I was threatened with arrest if I did not get in their private vehicle and accompany them to two ATMs to withdraw a large sum of money for a bribe”, he said on Facebook.
“As is the case with every games, we’re working with the local organizers to address minor issues and make sure the village is ready for Team USA athletes”, spokesman Patrick Sandusky told the AP.
“Our secretariat and medical teams have set up operations at the Olympic Village and welcomed the first athletes and officials from shooting and sailing to the Village today”.
Chiller defended her complaints which made headlines in Rio and prompted Mayor Eduardo Paes to joke that he felt “like putting a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home”.
Earlier this month, he responded to one voter critical of Rio’s transformation by telling him to “move”.
Chiller said problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, dirty walls and darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed.
Chiller stressed her comments had not been an attack on Brazil.
“The workers with us today have been really good, they’re very skilled and we’re very happy with the progress”.
“The possibility that travelers returning from the Olympics may spread Zika has become a polemic issue that has led to athletes dropping out of the event, and without evidence, undue stigmatization of Brazil”, said Ko, chairman of the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the School of Public Health.
Although several delegations have already expressed satisfaction with their residence, reports emerged Monday of fresh grumbling.
The South American country’s Olympic chief, Gerardo Werthein, told the Clarin newspaper that apartments on two of the five floors reserved for the team were “uninhabitable”.
“The apartments are completed on the outside, but when we tested them, we found problems with plumbing and electricity”, he said.
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“We were disappointed the Village wasn’t as ready as it might have been when we arrived and it hasn’t been easy”, the Sydney Olympics rowing champion said.
