The color of Olympic officials’ faces was turning from red to their natural color on Thursday as the pool used for diving and water polo began turning to blue from green.
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There’s something in the water at the Olympic diving pool, and ― after a day of hemming and hawing ― officials said Wednesday it’s probably just algae.
But Rio communications director Mario Andrada said the health of competitors was not at risk with checks confirming chlorine and PH levels were within required standards.
The Rio 2016 Twitter account responded to Daley’s tweet, stating that the pool had been closed for training because the water must remain still for the pool to return to its blue colour.
Simon Langford, media venue manager at Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, said training resumed and preliminaries of the women’s 3-meter springboard would go on as scheduled later Friday.
The water polo pool at the same venue is also slowly undergoing a similar transformation as the diving pool.
Speaking on Tuesday, Great Britain’s 10m synchronised diving bronze medallist Tom Daley described the situation as “slightly strange”.
However, when the pool finally opened for practice, it still appeared to be the same shade of green. Authorities had nevertheless assured athletes competing in the diving pool-as well as in the water-polo pool, which was also turning green-that the water posed no risk.
Some athletes said it has damaged their game – and left them unable to see properly in due to high levels of chlorine in the water.
“Not ideal, but we believe that fixing the water and making it look like it should was a priority in this case”, he said.
Organizers insisted that the water was safe for athletes throughout – albeit a bit icky.
“We need to have the water stew so we can clean it faster and easier”.
“We have learned that chemistry is not an exact science”, he said.
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Green seems to be the new signature color of the Rio Olympics, as the water in two pools has mysteriously changed to reflect the hue.
