RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: General view of the diving pool at Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Diving fans were dismayed to see that the water’s blue hues from the first few days of competition were gone, replaced by a green, murky pool.
Britain’s diving star Tom Daley tweeted: “Ermmm. what happened?!”, alongside a picture of the pool, which contrasted sharply with the light blue colour of the pool beside it.
Organisers said tests at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre’s diving pool were conducted regularly and the quality of the water was no threat to the divers’ health.
Rio organizers issued a statement saying tests showed the water isn’t harmful for athletes, and that they are still investigating the cause. The owner of AAA Pool Service in Santa Rosa, California, told The New York Times there’s a good chance the color change was caused by a “sudden algae bloom” or a “chemical reaction between chlorine and a metal in the water, most likely manganese”. I think when the sun down it was worse.
The unusual shade was obvious during the women’s 10m synchronised platform final.
Still, some divers shrugged off the colour change.
Chen Ruolin, who teamed to win gold with Liu Huixia, said it didn’t affect them.
Paola Espinosa of Mexico, competing in her fourth Olympics, noticed the pool getting increasingly darker throughout the six-round competition. “But it’s Brazil and everything is green down here, so maybe it was a decoration to make it look pretty”. “But it didn’t smell and there was nothing left on our skin”.
“Well there was [something wrong] as far as we could see”, Couch said.
American Jessica Parratto wears contacts and said the water didn’t burn her eyes.
“The only thing we said is don’t open your mouth in the water, just in case”, Benfeito said. “It’s not the same color as the sky so that was really on our side today”.
“I don’t know why”.
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Andrada said they expect the pool to return to its normal blue color sometime Wednesday.
