“We expect the color to be back to blue soon”, Andrada said, adding there is “absolutely no risk to the athletes or anybody”.
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However, he admitted the colour helped divers to judge their rotations, as it contrasted with the sky.
FINA, the worldwide governing body of swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water swimming, released a statement Wednesday stating they had determined the cause.
The water polo and diving pools.
Britain’s Tom Daley even said the Olympic diving pool being green helps them dive as they “know which way is up”.
The worldwide swimming federation (FINA) said “the reason for the unusual water colour observed during the Rio 2016 diving competitions is that the water tanks ran out of some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process”.
A spokesman for Rio 2016, Mario Andrada, blamed the problems on a fall in the alkaline level in the diving well that was affecting both pools.
United States men’s water-polo team captain Tony Azvedo told the Washington Post: “I could barely open my eyes for the final quarter (in his team’s match against France)”. The spokesperson said the crew probably needed to take into consideration that more athletes in the pool would affect the water unlike previous tests conducted before the games began had revealed. “Algae spores can be transmitted”. Now, the water polo facility next door is doing similar. “The last quarter, I can barely open my eyes”. “Who cares about the green water?” You throw in too much chlorine, all of the sudden you can’t see. Brazil was unprepared to host the Olympic Games. But he wasn’t sure chlorine was the problem. “It feels like lots of coloring, but there’s something different”.
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Events in the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre are expected to continue as planned, the Rio 2016 Local Organizing Committee said in a statement. There is no mention of any update to the water treatment system in the venue description. While FINA says that the murky waters should not affect the competition at all, it’s important to look at the photos.
