| Olympic Games on the BBC |
|---|
| Venue: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dates: 5-21 August Time in Rio: BST -4 |
| Coverage: Watch on BBC One, BBC Four, Red Button and up to 24 HD video streams on mobile, desktop and connected TVs, plus follow on Radio 5 live and via live text commentary. |
Australian
athletes will move into Rio's Olympic Village on Wednesday after seeing
officials make "fantastic progress" in addressing concerns about the
state of the accommodation.
The Australian delegation had refused to move in, citing "blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring".
But, after speaking to local officials, team boss Kitty Chiller said improvement work was being carried out.
"It looks we will be able to move everybody in on Wednesday," she said.
Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada said 630 people were "working around the clock" to make the village ready for Thursday.
The
31-building $1.5bn (£1.14bn) village has tennis courts, football
pitches, seven swimming pools and will house 18,000 athletes and
officials at the height of the Games, which start on 5 August, less than
two weeks away.
Chiller, the head of Australia's Olympic
delegation, had earlier suggested the accommodation "endangered"
athletes and alternative accommodation was being arranged for team
members arriving over the coming days.
That was despite extra
maintenance staff and more than 1,000 cleaners being engaged to fix
problems, particularly plumbing issues.
Those concerns were raised
with local officials and the International Olympic Committee, but at a
news conference on Monday, Chiller said she was now happy the issues
would be addressed in time, saying: "The mayor and I have a date on
Wednesday for a ceremonial handing over of the keys."
Rio Mayor
Eduardo Paes had responded to Australian criticism by saying the village
is "more beautiful" than Sydney's for the 2000 Games and that he was
about to put "a kangaroo jumping outside" to "make them feel at home".
Has anybody else complained?
 |
| London 2012 rowing champion Mahe Drysdale said he was the first athlete to arrive at the Olympic Village and posted this picture on Instagram |
The
Argentinean Olympic Committee says it will house some of its athletes
and officials elsewhere because of problems with electricity, plumbing
and finishing in two of the five storeys it had reserved.
There are also reports the Swedish football team has cancelled its stay in the Village.
New
Zealand team boss Rob Waddell said he was "disappointed" the Village
was not ready, adding "it hasn't been easy", but said with "a bit of
hard work", their facilities were ready for the first athletes arrival.
"Our team has had to get stuck in to get the job done," said Waddell.
Italy's
Carlo Mornati said his team were hiring labourers, electricians,
plumbers and bricklayers to bring the apartments "up to normal
conditions as soon as possible".
The British team have had staff
in place for several days and a spokesman told Reuters: "We are
confident that our accommodation is ready to receive athletes and will
be to the highest standards within the village.
"Whilst we have
encountered some maintenance difficulties this is not uncommon with new
build structures of this type and we have been working hard to overcome
them."
And the US Olympic Committee said there were "minor issues," but that it was no different to "every Games".
No comments:
Post a Comment