Then this morning, amusingly, the water polo pool also started turning green.
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The women’s 3-meter individual event is scheduled to begin in the afternoon.
Officials in Rio closed the Olympic diving pool on Friday morning, three days after the water at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center turned green.
The objective of the closure, according to the Rio Organizing Committee, is to allow the water to remain still while the treatments take effect.
Rio spokesman Mario Andrada said the green was caused “by a proliferation of algae”.
“As a result the Ph level of the water was outside the usual range, causing the discolouration”, FINA said in a statement.
However, on Thursday, athletes competing in water polo complained the chlorine in the pool was so strong it was burning their eyes.
FINA, the body that oversees competition swimming, said they ran out of vital chemicals needed to keep up the pure blue color. “We reduced immediately the quantity (of chlorine)”.
But Benfeito admitted she and her partner were trying not to laugh about it while climbing the diving tower and exchanged some last-second advice: “We said, “Don’t open your mouth in the water”.
But he added: “The people in charge of the pool and of checking could and should have done more intensive tests”.
“We have learnt that chemistry is not an exact science”.
“When we went to fix the green, there was a discussion about the best chemicals”.
Andrada said an increase in the alkaline level led to the green color, and that the pool for water polo and synchronized swimming is being affected in the same way. “We made a little mistake”.
The situation is beginning to take its toll on a number of athletes.
Athletes were unaffected by the change in colour but Mitch Geller, chief technical officer of Diving Canada said the team had brought in a pool expert to help.
British bronze medalist Tom Daley broke the news on Twitter this morning.
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The caption says: “The moment you want to do some workout and the pool is closed”.
