Rio de Janeiro: The Australian team will not move into the Olympic Village for next month’s Rio de Janeiro Games because of problems including “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring”, the head of the country’s delegation Kitty Chiller said yesterday.
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He said the Olympic Village in Rio was “the best in the history of the Olympics”, but said that adjustments to the apartments were needed.
“I have never experienced a village in this state – or lack of state – of readiness at this point in time”, she said.
Some 18,000 athletes, coaches and officials from around the world will live in 3,604 apartments in 31 buildings, looked after by 13,000 employees and volunteers.
Australian athletes arriving in the coming days will be housed in alternative accommodation.
This is the latest problem for the games, which have been hit by the Zika virus, security threats, water pollution and severe budget cuts. “We’ve got electrical problems. We’ve got lighting problems in some of the stairwells”.
During a test involving taps and toilets being turned on in apartments on several floors, “water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was “shorting” in the electrical wiring”.
“For over a week now, AOC staff have been working long hours to get our section of the village ready for our athletes”, Chiller said.
“We were due to move into the Village on July 21 but we have been living in nearby hotels, because the Village is simply not safe or ready”.
Takashi Yamamoto, the vice governor of Tokyo, also attended.
The Australian complaints follow local media reports that some team delegations, concerned over similar issues, had sought to hire their own maintenance crews in order to make quarters suitable.
Chiller said she had raised concerns with local event organisers and the International Olympic Committee, and was “pushing hard for a solution”.
As for Rio, Chiller noted that, although “there is much work to be done”, the AOC appreciated the efforts of the IOC and Rio organizing committee to “push things along”.
“All is good, few finishing touches still to be made, but when you arrive at 5am on opening day you can’t expect it to be ideal”. “I nearly feel like putting a kangaroo to jump up and down in front of their building”.
The compound contains tennis courts, soccer fields, seven swimming pools – with mountains and the sea as a backdrop – topped off by a massive dining-kitchen compound that’s as large as three football fields.
The apartments are to be sold after the Olympics with some prices reaching $700,000. The development costs about $1.5 billion, built by the Brazilian billionaire Carlos Carvalho.
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The criticism was another embarrassing blow for host Brazil, which is struggling to show all will be well with the 2016 Olympics to open August 5, despite low ticket sales and general public apathy amid a deep recession.
