Australian swim team pulled from Rio training pool when water turns 'soupy'

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Concerns about water quality at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games have expanded to include the inside training pool: top Australian swimming coach Michael Bohl moved his Olympic athletes from the main training pool on Thursday citing fear of infection.

The team had a pre-booked session in the training pool where they would have practiced uninterrupted. However, during the session the water in the pool turned, as Bohl described, "cloudy" and "soupy looking". Concerned about his athletes' health, he moved them from the training pool to the busier, but cleaner, main competition pool.

Bohl took his concerns to officials and was told the matter would be looked into.

This comes off the back of other water concerns in Rio, particularly in the Guanabara Bay venue for outdoor water events. An Associated Press-commissioned study found Rio's Olympic waterways contained as much as 1.7 million times worse viral levels than the emergency threshold in Europe or the US. As a result, athletes were advised to keep their mouths closed and avoid putting their heads underwater or risk falling ill.

Swimming events at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games are to begin today.

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Sources

Todd Balym. "Australia swim team avoid using Olympic pool for fear of sickness after water ‘turns soupy’" — Gold Coast Bulletin, August 5, 2016
Anthony Sharwood. "Soupy Water in Rio Aquatics Centre Forces Aussies To Change Pools" — The Huffington Post, August 5, 2016
Martin Rogers. "Australian swim coach pulls athletes from Rio training pool" — USA Today, August 4, 2016
David Riccio. "Rio Olympic Games: Aussie water-based athletes up against raw sewage, viruses and bacteria" — The Daily Telegraph (Australia), August 3, 2016

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Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.