From Yusra Mardini, a teenage swimmer from Syria who braved a Mediterranean crossing in a leaky dinghy, to Popole Misenga, who spent eight days hiding in a forest as a terrified child to flee bloody fighting, each of the refugee athletes have overcome daunting odds to maintain their Olympic dreams.
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Australian Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller, who has had to deal with her team’s discontent, said a laptop and Zika-protective team shirts had been stolen by people who entered the building during the evacuation.
Chiller and her emergency support team have now elected fire wardens for each of the 18 floors of the Australian residence at the village.
The thefts are another headache for Australian hierarchy, who suspect the fire was caused by a cigarette tossed by a local worker into piles of rubbish in the basement.
An investigation on Friday night had already established that the fire alarm system was turned off for several hours pending work on the next door building occupied by Germany and Belgium.
Each of the 37 swimmers and 23 staff members of Team Australia’s swimming contingent will have a row of seats to themselves, something the Team Manager believes will be a helpful factor in the performance of the swimmers. Or should they stick it out?
Nobody was hurt but approximately 100 athletes and officials were forced to leave the building, returning around 30 minutes later.
“The stairwells filled with smoke, but the fire was confined to the carpark and no one was injured”, the Australian Olympic Committee said in a statement posted to the Rio 2016 web site.
Chiller said during the evacuation she had noticed three fire marshals apparently stealing the Australia team shirts.
“We’ve asked Rio to enforce a very strict non-smoking policy”, Chiller says, “At the moment it’s not”.
Chiller also took issue with the building’s lack of properly functioning fire alarms. “We represent people who suffer injustice”.
The basement fire was blamed on a cigarette discarded into debris left after the repairs.
The Australians had complained last weekend about exposed wiring and blocked toilets, saying accommodation in the village was “not safe or ready” for the Games which open on August 5. He was then taken on as part of the IOC’s Refugee Team and, speaking confident Portuguese, said he meant to grasp the opportunity.
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In May, Spain’s Olympic gold-medal winning sailor Fernando Echavarri and two companions said they were held up at gunpoint by five young men in Rio.
