Australia refuse to move into 'unsafe' Olympic village in Rio
By Coral Barry
Last Updated: 24/07/16 6:10pm
The Olympic village in Rio is unsafe and does not have the proper facilities to look after athletes, says Australia's head of delegation Kitty Chiller.
Australia have now decided they will not move into the camp unless the building undergoes extensive alterations to fix a host of problems.
Such issues the Australian delegation say they were met with when they arrived were blocked toilets and exposed wires and Chiller explained in a statement that she could not allow her Olympians to be exposed to such an environment.
"For over a week now AOC staff have been working long hours to get our section of the village ready for our athletes," said Chiller.
"Problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean.
"In operations areas water has come through the ceiling resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring.
"We have raised our concerns on a daily basis with the Organising Committee and the IOC, especially at the daily Chef's meeting."
According to Chiller, the New Zealand and Great Britain delegations have also raised concerns about the camp which she says has already been proven to be incapable of housing guests.
"Extra maintenance staff and over 1,000 cleaners have been engaged to fix the problems and clean the village but the faults, particularly the plumbing issues, have not been resolved.
"Last night (Saturday), we decided to do a "stress test" where taps and toilets were simultaneously turned on in apartments on several floors to see if the system could cope once the athletes are in-house.
"The system failed. Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was "shorting" in the electrical wiring.
"We were due to move into the village on 21 July but we have been living in nearby hotels, because the village is simply not safe or ready."
