Just when you think Australia's build-up to the Rio Olympics couldn't get any worse.
The Australian team's Olympic village base has been robbed overnight, while four members of the women's water polo team have been struck down with a gastro-intestinal illness.
The events add to a horror run for the Aussie team who last week withdrew their athletes from the Olympic village due to sub-standard construction and maintenance. The team has moved back in since.
READ: CAN AUSTRALIA'S NEW-LOOK OPALS CONTINUE THEIR OLYMPIC MEDAL RUN?
In the break-in overnight, long-sleeved Zika-protective team shirts and a laptop from the cycling team were stolen from the Australian buildings after the team was evacuated due to a small fire in the basement.
"When I arrived midway through evacuation, I saw three fire marshals walking out with our team shirts," Australian team Chef de Mission, Kitty Chiller, told media in Rio.
"I should take back fire marshals—I don't know who they were. They were not team members."
Bizarrely, a number of fire alarms in the Australian complex had been deactivated, meaning some athletes were not evacuated during the fire.
Am I wrong in thinking that some of these events should be better attended? I'm watching the Men's beach volleyball and the stadium is half full for the match between Canada and Brazil. I expected the Brazil team to be able to pack the stadium.
Am I wrong in thinking that some of these events should be better attended? I'm watching the Men's beach volleyball and the stadium is half full for the match between Canada and Brazil. I expected the Brazil team to be able to pack the stadium.
Make it ladies and it would be standing room only.
Am I wrong in thinking that some of these events should be better attended? I'm watching the Men's beach volleyball and the stadium is half full for the match between Canada and Brazil. I expected the Brazil team to be able to pack the stadium.
That's a full house compared to the earlier Italy/Austria match where it seemed to be coaches and other teams only.
So far I don't really think Ive seen anything approaching a full house anywhere. Probably a combo of expensive seats that locals can't afford, general antipathy to the Olympics by Brazilians, and foreigners being spooked by Zika.
The Rio Olympic Games got off to a shambolic start on Saturday as fans queued for hours at security checkpoints to enter venues, with some missing their events and many athletes competing in front of eerily empty stands.
Brazil is synonymous with paradise. Exotic beaches, scantily clad Carnival performers -- these icons are unavoidable. But what's really behind the smile on the postcard? All you have to do is go a step further, and what's revealed is something far more interesting.
It's all the best things about the country, boiled down into a thick, spicy, African stew. It's mystical, magical, incredibly colorful, and has its own choreography that we worked very hard to capture.
Now the water is burning the eyes of the athletes.
Quote:
“I could barely open my eyes for the final quarter,” the Washington Post quoted U.S. men’s water polo captain Tony Azevedo as saying. “This is the Olympic Games and they are putting so much chlorine in the water that people can’t see. You can’t have that.”
Ongoing Rio Olympics Disaster Thread
