Australian athletes will not move into their rooms at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics until serious plumbing, electrical and cleaning problems are fixed, with the troubled South American games opening in less than two weeks.
Kitty Chiller, the head of the Australian delegation, said in a statement Sunday that team members “will not move into our allocated building” at the Athletes Village. She gave no hint of when they might. Teams from Britain and New Zealand were also reported to be having similar problems.
This comes as the sprawling 31-building village, which will house 18,000 athletes and officials at the height of the games, opened officially on Sunday with some athletes expected to arrive.
This is the latest problem for the troubled games, which have been hit by the Zika virus, security threats, water pollution, and severe budget cuts.