Athletes were stopped from training in Rio’s Olympic diving pool as work to turn the water blue again continued.
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Olympic divers say the pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center was closed for morning practice, apparently to allow more time to clean the water.
“FINA can confirm that the reason for the unusual water color observed during the Rio diving competitions is that the water tanks ran out of some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process”.
“We have learnt that chemistry is not an exact science”.
“The rain doesn’t help”, Andrada said.
“Not ideal, but we believe that fixing the water and making it look like it should was a priority in this case”, he said.
Conditions were fine for Daley’s bronze medal-winning performance alongside Dan Goodfellow on Monday, but the water changed colour following the women’s competition a day later. But on Friday morning, after he couldn’t practice, he anxious about the larger implications.
Abby Johnston set her alarm for 5:45 a.m. Friday, intent on getting in an early morning warm-up before the first individual diving event of the Rio Olympics. Hopefully that means we haven’t been diving in anything too bad the last couple of days!
German diver Patrick Hausding posted a picture on Instagram covering his nose over the pool under the caption “The pool is CLOSED!”
He conceded that some athletes had been bothered by the water, but said that was a result of efforts to clean the pool. He said extensive tests this week have shown that chemical levels have remained well within global health standards.
“We reiterate what we have been saying all along – the water does not offer any threat to the health of the athletes”, Andrada said.
However, when the pool finally opened for practice, it still appeared to be the same shade of green.
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.
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The water suddenly changed color on Wednesday, midway through the synchronised diving events.
