The teams began draining the nearly one million gallons of water from the pool with industrial pumps. “They produced an unforgettable win over Serbia, one of the most powerful water polo teams ever, so they were so happy and excited to beat them, they said to keep the water the same”. Synchronized Swimming in Rio%INLINE%.
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Mario Andrada, a spokesman for Rio 2016, said the “radical measure” was necessary.
But there is good news on the green smelly pool front, as officials in Rio reportedly have figured out how to make the water less…gross. American diver Abby Johnston has dubbed it “the swamp”. “We are hosting the Olympic Games, and athletes are here, so water is going to be an issue”. He added that this was probably the only issue that they were unable to solve quickly. “We learned a painful lesson the hard way”.
“This will be done overnight and we will start preparing the competition pool for synchronised swimming, which is due to start at 11am”.
Meanwhile, water polo players complained of stinging eyes from the extra chlorine pumped into the pool to fix the problem. Fortunately, according to reports by NBC Olympics, the source of the murky mess was finally explained on Saturday.
A contractor poured 80litres of the chemical into both the diving and water polo pools on August 5, the day of the opening ceremony, but the mistake only emerged when the water started to change colour on Tuesday.
Andrada said the pool will be refilled in between the women’s individual 3-meter springboard semifinals at 3 p.m. and the finals on Sunday at 3 p.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.
Others had a different view. When you’re standing up there it’s a bit off-putting.
“It’s actually just as well they didn’t change it as I was just getting used to it”.
There were plenty of snarky posts on social media.
Olympics officials did not want to blame a specific individually, but they did say that it looks like the hydrogen peroxide and been applied by a local pool maintenance worker.
“But embarrassment does not last forever”.
Rio officials are also dealing with another aquatics venue mishap.
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Meanwhile Saturday, practice for the open water swimming competition at Fort Copacabana was canceled when the starting platform sank.
