RIO DE JANEIRO — Concerns over water quality at the Olympics have been swirling for months for sailors and rowers, but this week they moved into swimming pools, in the latest embarrassment for Games organizers.
Untreated sewage, the presence of dangerous bacteria, and garbage floating in Rio’s Guanabara Bay and lagoon waters have long unsettled many water-sport competitors at the Games.
But few expected the diving pool at the Maria Lenk aquatic center to turn a mysterious, translucent green on Wednesday.
World swimming governing body FINA said the color was the result of a failure by Games organizers to sufficiently treat the water, after tanks at the pools had run out of pool chemicals.
The resulting abnormal pH levels in the diving and water polo pool next door would be quickly remedied, organizers said, adding that the water posed no health risk.
Their solution — adding more chlorine, a chemical that kills algae and helps keep pool waters blue — kept the complaints rolling in.
After the U.S. men’s water polo team beat France on Wednesday, U.S. captain Tony Azevedo emerged from the pool red-eyed, bemoaning the pool water that was stinging players’ eyes.
“What’s ridiculous is not the green water. I’ve played in plenty of pools with green water. The problem is they put way too much chlorine in,” Azevedo told reporters. “I could barely open my eyes for the final quarter.”
Azevedo added: “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.”
According to water treatment experts, such problems are easily avoidable with proper maintenance by pool-keepers.
Murray reaches quarterfinals
RIO DE JANEIRO — Defending champion Andy Murray survived a scare to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s Olympic tennis tournament with a three-set victory over Fabio Fognini on Thursday.
Murray won 6-1 2-6 6-3 after rallying from a 3-0 third-set deficit against the Italian, who won eight straight games before the Briton regained control.
Spain’s Rafa Nadal also booked his spot in the last eight with a 7-6(5) 6-3 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon.
The Olympic tennis tournament has been marked by some major upsets in the opening rounds and both Murray and Nadal were tested on Thursday, in gusty conditions after rain delays had cancelled play on Wednesday.
The momentum shifts in Murray’s match were striking. The Italian mounted an aggressive counter-attack after Murray won the first set easily, repeatedly wrong-footing the Briton on the baseline, or drawing him in with drop shots. But Murray turned it around to win the last six games.
“It wasn’t pretty, but I won,” he told reporters. “The wind was swirling everywhere, so it was just really tough conditions for us to play well.”
Murray, who now faces Steve Johnson of the United States, is favourite to clinch a second straight gold medal following the first-round exit of world number one Novak Djokovic to Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro.
U.S. men relish marathon Italy match
United States gold-medal hopes Nicholas Lucena and Phil Dalhausser relished Thursday’s marathon victory against Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo, a performance they said put them in good stead for the knockout rounds in men’s volleyball.
With the sun setting over a windy Copacabana beach, the U.S. won 21-13, 17-21, 24-22 after both teams successfully defended match points in a third set that usually only goes to 15.
“It was a good test. They are one of the top five teams in the world, they’re the future of this sport,” Lucena said.
Nicolai and Lupo are 28 and 25 respectively, while veterans Dalhausser and Lucena are both 36.
Lucena and Dalhausser now move into the last 16. Their opponents will be decided by matches later on Thursday.
Britain win gold in men’s team sprint
RIO DE JANEIRO — Britain won the men’s track cycling team sprint gold for the third consecutive Olympics after defeating New Zealand on Thursday, with Callum Skinner anchoring them to victory in the first event of the track programme.
Skinner, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes set the third Olympic record of the day to beat the world champions by the narrowest of margins.
Britain clocked 42.440 for the three laps of the 250-meter circuit, 0.102 seconds quicker than New Zealand who were bidding for their first Olympic gold in the discipline.
Despite reports of the track being slow beforehand, Britain set an Olympic record in the qualifying round, New Zealand, anchored by Eddie Dawkins went even quicker in round one and Britain went faster still in the final.
New Zealand led early in the race but Britain surged back.
France beat Australia to win the bronze medal.
Fans miss Spain-Nigeria start due to suspicious backpack
Fans missed the start of the men’s Olympic basketball contest between Nigeria and Spain on Thursday after an unattended backpack was found in the arena, triggering a security alert and a controlled detonation of the bag.
Television images showed the players, including Spanish NBA star Pau Gasol, starting play against the backdrop of tiers of empty seats after security held back crowds from entering the arena.
The backpack was carried away by a robot and detonated, a spokesman for Rio 2016 confirmed. Detonating unattended bags has been common this Games amid concerns over security at South America’s first Olympics.
A security agent said the backpack was discovered after the Brazil-Croatia game.
A tablet computer, some socks and a jacket were found inside the backpack following the detonation. The public were allowed into the arena immediately afterwards, a spokesman said.