Officials blamed hydrogen peroxide, added to the pool by a contractor, as the cause of the pool turning green.
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The hydrogen peroxide neutralized the chlorine and allowed the growth of “organic compounds” that might have included algae, according to the report.
However, he reiterated that the kale-coloured water posed no risk to the health of the athletes although he admits the issue should have been resolved quicker. It should be light blue, transparent.
This would have resulted in the inability for the pool’s chlorine to effectively kill any organic matter. It had already dropped several inches as officials scurried around the deck, checking the water level and hauling out pumps and hoses that were to be used for the transfer. They had raced to drain green-tinged water out of the pool overnight at a venue that has embarrassed Rio organizers. He said it should be completed by 7 a.m. Sunday, with the scheduled start of the duet free preliminary set for 11 a.m.
Nascimento said the diving pool and then the bigger pool next to it turned green because a contractor added 80 litres of hydrogen peroxide which neutralised the chlorine. The pool for the water-polo competitions had turned cloudy blue while the diving pool remained murky bluish green by Saturday afternoon. So the medium in which athletes, some who travelled thousands of miles to compete, can perform and show off what they have trained years for, is now back to a state where it won’t harm or hinder their results in any way, which is a good baseline for the Olympics.
“The temperature was little bit better for us and it’s a little bit clearer underwater, which also helped”. We should have been better in fixing it quickly.
A man takes a water sample from the second pool prior to the Men’s Synchronised 3m Springboard Final.
The main pool was drained and the water replaced to get rid of the murky green water.
Ishchenko’s partner, Svetlana Romashina, said the pool was only half-full when the swimmers arrived to prepare.
The ever-changing colour of the water in both the water polo and diving pools have been an endless source of amusement and frustration for the past week, and Andrada and venues manager Gustavo Nascimento fronted a media conference to come clean on the issue.
“The quote that the colour resembled the Brazilian flag was said by the Brazilian players from water polo”, he said.
American Abigail Johnston, who finished a disappointing last in Sunday’s final also labelled the pool a “swamp”.
“We’ve learned a painful lesson”.
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“The reason why [this happened], we haven’t solved it”.
