Arriving in the coastal city ahead of the August 5 start of the first Olympics to be held in South America, Thomas Bach said every host city experienced last-minute difficulties.
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New images that emerged from the village showed water leaking down walls, exposed wires hanging from the ceiling and broken tiles and plaster left on the bathroom floor as work in the apartments still remained incomplete.
The Australian delegation gave the mayor a tiny “boxing kangaroo” doll, and now says it’s happy with its rooms at Rio’s Olympic Athletes Village.
On Wednesday, Brazilian labor inspectors said they would fine the Rio organizing committee almost $100,000 (about 315,000 reals) for hiring workers without proper contracts required by law.
The athletes’ village, located in the western Rio neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca, was meant to be a bright spot for competitors coming to Rio.
Although outsourcing may prove sufficient for minor repairs, it is likely that the Athletes Village’s infrastructural issues will only deepen as more athletes arrive in Rio De Janeiro. This was the worst building. For now, the Australians are staying in hotels.
According to a Rio 2016 spokesperson, over 630 workers are working around the clock to have the village ready by Thursday. He conceded that handover of the units was done without proper checks. “The electricity was disconnected and there was no need for an evacuation or to call firefighters”, Andrada told The Guardian. “We had to move in a lot of furniture, so we were not totally focused on the stress tests, as we should have been”. It expects athletes will be able to move in by the end of this week, and a spokesman for the committee said it is open to talking about compensation for delegations. “But they’ve got their building now”.
“Since then, we have been meeting on a daily basis with the local organising committee and our colleagues from other NOCs to find solutions to issues that have arisen in the village for the benefit of all delegations”.
In response, the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, responded: “I nearly feel like putting a kangaroo to jump up and down in front of their building”. “It affects all participating countries”, a Dutch team spokesperson said. Naturally, the first place they’d check in to is the Athletes Village. Hundreds of athletes have already began flocking to the Olympic Village, with many early team managers, volunteers and athletes expressing shock and dismay at the poor living conditions that met them. A number of countries have praised the facilities, which include swimming pools, tennis courts and faux-beaches for lounging. “We’ve got electrical problems”.
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Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes shot back at Australia’s criticism, saying the Village is “more beautiful” than Sydney for the 2000 Games and that he was about to put “a kangaroo jumping outside” to “make them feel at home”, the BBC reported.
