“I think they bumped up the chlorine or something because my eyes are stinging”, Australian centre back Richie Campbell told Fairfax after his water polo match with Japan on Wednesday. “You can’t have that”.
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Confusion and Curiosity struck Olympic divers as they discovered that they will be jumping into what looked like a pool of green jelly. Algae can cause serious safety issues because of water-clouding (meaning a lifeguard would have trouble seeing a drowning swimmer) and slippage. And if the water hasn’t returned to normal by officials’ projected timeline, then things really may get interesting.
Athletes have continued to compete in the pools while officials repeatedly reassure there is no health risk in either pool, but they do have some hesitance.
A spokesman for Rio 2016, Mario Andrada, blamed the problems on a fall in the alkaline level in the diving well that was affecting both pools.
The water condition for Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow, left, was a bit different than for Tonia Couch.
“We expect the colour to be back to blue shortly”, he said ahead of Wednesday’s event, the men’s synchronised 3m springboard.
As a result, Olympic athletes are nearly certain to come into contact with disease-causing viruses that in some tests measured up to 1.7 million times the level of what would be considered hazardous on a Southern California beach, according to a year-long investigation by the AP. Andrada didn’t specify what treatments Olympic officials used, but it’s common to use chlorine to eliminate algae in pools, according to Erica Andresen, who works as the associate director for George Mason recreation facilities, which operates an indoor Olympic-sized competition pool. Should our athletes be forced to compete in a pool filled with algae? “Rather than speculate, several test labs within the membership of the APSP stand ready to test the affected pool water and share its results and remedies with the Olympic aquatic leadership”.
A team of independent experts had also checked the pools and ruled them safe, Andrada said. If the water is green, that could mean something is out of wack.
Pictures from the venue on Wednesday show the diving pool is still tinged with green, while the adjacent pool used for the synchronised swimming and water polo appears to be going the same way.
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Just keep swimming, friends-but preferably in blue, pH-balanced waters.
