But it wasn’t working fast enough for their timetable: The water had to be crystal clear for synchronized swimming, because judges have to have a clear sightline underneath the water for the performances.
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The almost 1 million gallons of water in the pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, which had been used for water polo, has turned green, much like the water in the diving pool nearby. They could possibly move synchronized swimming to the 15,000-seat Olympic Aquatics Stadium, but that would require a major juggling of the schedule with water polo. “We need to make sure people can access the Olympic stadium in a quick and easy manner”, he said. The larger pool – used for water polo and synchronized swimming – began to turn the same color the following day. “The water in the warm-up pool is in flawless condition”.
Olympic organisers admit they have been left red faced over Rio’s green pool.
Andrada said the green water did not pose a health risk to the athletes.
He said the colour change on Tuesday was due to 80 litres of hydrogen peroxide being mistakenly added to the pool by a local contractor on August 5.
On Saturday, Rio Games spokesman Mario Andrada told NBC News that “some radical measures are taking place and one of those radical measures is to replace a big part of the water” in the main pool at the venue. It will be refilled before the finals, scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Rio de Janeiro (dpa) – Rio organizers stepped up their battle against the unusual green colour that has plagued their open-air Olympic pools, as amusement over the problem turned into mounting criticism Saturday.
“We’ve learned a painful lesson”.
Gustavo Nascimento, director of venue management, did not confirm that algae had developed in the pools, but he did say organic matter had formed.
Others had a different view. I just try to close my eyes and close my mouth.
But chemistry, of course, is literally an exact science, as is predicting who will get roasted on Twitter.
“The world is here, the best athletes are here, so the water comes to be an issue”.
Long-time coach Buschkow said he had never seen anything of the kind, pointing also to problems at the facility with cold showers and empty warm-up tubs.
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“But embarrassment does not last forever”.
