FINA says that the FINA Sports Medicine Committee conducted tests on the water quality and concluded that “there was no risk to the health and safety of the athletes”, and as such made a decision to proceed with Tuesday’s diving events anyway.
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There had been speculations that algae may have been the cause, but officials have blamed a “chemical imbalance” in the water which is now affecting the adjacent pool.
It explained that the discoloration was caused by the pH level – or acidity level – of the water being “outside the usual range”.
“FINA’s Sports Medical Committee has conducted some tests and concluded that the waters will not be harmful to athletes and there shouldn’t be an excuse to postpone the competition”, said FINA.
“When we were practicing to get used to this venue (the water) was always sky blue.But we’re always mentally prepared for unexpected situations”, China’s Liu Huixia, who won the gold medal with partner Chen Ruolin, told Reuters.
While some speculated urine produced the color, Jim’s Pool Care national manager Brett Blair told The Guardian the Olympic pool was too large to have turned green from urine. Couch did say that the water had one unexpected benefit – it made it easier for divers to isolate the surface as they spun through the air.
Rio Olympics spokesman Mario Andrada at a press conference Wednesday blamed a “decrease in alkalinity” for the colour change, but insisted the conditions were safe for competitors and spectators.
“The water quality at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre was tested and there were no risks for the athletes”, officials tweeted on Tuesday.
He said: “The algae makes the water look green”.
It doesn’t seem to be concerning too numerous swimmers.
“The only thing we said is don’t open your mouth in the water, just in case”, Benfeito said.
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The water polo and diving pools. “But we are going to monitor to see if anyone is getting red eyes here, if their ears start hurting, we’ll be dumping a whole lot of antibiotics into them”. And we don’t know yet why the pool changed colors.
