The head of the Australian delegation Kitty Chiller speaks during a press conference outside the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, July 24, 2016.
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The Australian delegation was very critical of the condition of the Olympic Village and upon arriving in Brazil on the weekend made a decision to transfer the athletes to hotels.
Though the Olympics is scheduled to begin in 12 days, the opening of the village has no set date. The Rio organising [sic] committee has sent in large teams of cleaners and fix staff, but could not say when the village would be open. “The important thing is that everything will be resolved before the games, without disturbing the athletes”.
“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 build-up to the Rio Games has been hampered by low ticket sales, Brazil’s recession, Zika virus fears and street crime problems in the city.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, after harshly criticizing Chiller on Sunday, has acknowledged that Australia had the worst prepared building in the vast complex that contains seven swimming pools, tennis courts and a dining area to serve 60,000 meals daily.
“There are some electrical issues and some leaks”, he said, noting that a team of about 500 workers is now addressing the problems. “We’ve got electrical problems”.
“For over a week now AOC staff have been working long hours to get our section of the village ready for our athletes”. We’ve got lighting problems in some of the stairwells.
This is just numerous problems Rio has faced in the run up to the games.
In Building 23, the Australians noticed electrical shorting and a strong smell of gas in some apartments.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has offered to get a kangaroo for the Australian Olympic team after they refused to move into the Athletes’ Village over safety fears.
“Some (countries) are comfortable for their teams to move in, and I envy them”, said Chiller on Sunday.
She praised the village on a visit a few months ago, and said so on social media. “It’s looking like, according to our plan, we will be able to move everybody in on Wednesday”.
Suffice it to say, the International Olympic Committee will be making its best efforts to solve the issues in the athletes’ village quickly and quietly before more countries boycott the facility. “It looks spectacular. There are just teething issues in some of the service inside the building”. It said fixing the problem “will take another few days”.
Rio spokesman Mario Andrada says 630 people are “working around the clock” so the entire village can be ready on Thursday, barely a week before the Olympics open on August 5.
Furthermore, he joked that he would put a kangaroo outside the Australian accommodation “to make Australians feel at home”.
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The compound contains tennis courts, soccer fields and seven swimming pools, topped off by a massive dining-kitchen compound that’s as large as three football fields. The development cost about US$1.5 billion, and was built by Brazilian billionaire Carlos Carvalho.
