“The reason is that the water must be still so the pool can return to its blue colour as soon as possible”.
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The pool had steadily been turning greener and greener after beginning the Olympics as a calming shade of blue.
It had a green tinge as the men’s polo event took place in Rio on Wednesday.
A preliminary round for the women’s 3-metre springboard competition had been scheduled to be held in the diving pool on Friday. “On a Sunday in the summertime, we’ll put 5,000 people in that water at one time”.
It explained that the discoloration was caused by the pH level – or acidity level – of the water being “outside the usual range”.
However, on Thursday, athletes competing in water polo complained the chlorine in the pool was so strong it was burning their eyes.
Simon Langford, chief spokesman for the Maria Lenk, said the pool was closed to allow additional cleaning.
The pool remained green early Friday afternoon, and it continues to be a talking point among the athletes.
Andrada maintained the green water posed no health issues for competitors and added the pools were being tested in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s directives. “But we came here with a mind-set of ‘expect the unexpected.’ If the water was going to be orange, blue, green – it didn’t matter”.
Now, officials claim that the reason for the pools’ new color is “a proliferation of algae” caused by “a sudden decrease in [its] alkalinity”.
The Rio Olympics have been filled with headline after headline before the games even started.
Spectators and athletes were greeted by the rather unusual sight of the coloured water on Tuesday, and so far it has been somewhat of a mystery.
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United States diver David Boudia asked if it was a deliberate joke or an early St Patrick’s Day celebration, while the Internet had a field day with their own theories of what exactly happened.
