Australia’s chef de mission, Kitty Chiller, slammed Olympic officials after it emerged smoke alarms were switched off when a fire broke out at the athlete’s village in Rio De Janeiro.
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“We are all accounted for”, said Mike Tancred, director of media and communications for the Australian Olympic Committee, adding that the fire did not appear to have been serious.
All athletes are uninjured and have returned to the accommodation after more than 100 of the team were forced to spend about 30 minutes out of the building.
‘We understand the fire alarm had actually been silenced in our building while they were doing maintenance work on the building next door.
Chiller said the fire alarms didn’t go off to alert the team to the blaze. [It’s] a good chance for us to put our emergency plan into action.
Anjelina Nada Lohalith, who will compete in the 1,500-meter run, told reporters at Rio’s Tom Jobim airport that participating at the games was “really important, because I know I am going to represent thousands of refugees from around the world”.
“We are not alone, our friends from Team GB, New Zealand and others are experiencing the same problems in their accommodation”.
Extensive emergency repairs were carried out by hundreds of workers and allowed the first Australian athletes to move in to their official digs on Wednesday.
Rio mayor Eduardo Paes apologised and acknowledged Australia’s allocated building was the worst in the village.
Low ticket sales, a slump in the Brazilian currency and lukewarm appetite from sponsors have all taken their toll on the privately-funded organisation that runs the Games before handing infrastructure back to the city.
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All 31 buildings at the massive compound for 18,000 athletes and staff are due to be ready at the end of Thursday, with the games opening in just over a week. He spoke to the press about the Australian Olympic Committee and joked, “We want them to feel at home here, I nearly feel like putting a kangaroo to jump up and down in front of their building”.
