Water issues continue to haunt the Rio Olympics after two outdoor pools turned green earlier this week and now the water is burning athletes’ eyes.
After a second pool began to turn green less than 24 hours after the diving tank became swamp-like at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre earlier this week, water polo competitors are now dealing with burning eyes after Olympic officials apparently tried to correct the discolouration of the water.
“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.”
READ MORE: Another Olympic pool is turning green at the Summer Games
Azevedo made the comments on Wednesday following his team’s win over France. Rio officials blamed a decrease in the alkaline level in the diving well Tuesday afternoon on what led to the green colour, organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada said. He added that the pool for water polo and synchronized swimming are being affected in the same way but “we expect the colour to be back to blue very shortly.”
However, on Wednesday, the international governing body for aquatics known as FINA, said “the unusual water colour” was due to a chemical imbalance.
Rio officials haven’t disclosed as to how they are correcting the discolouration, though it appears the chlorine level has been kicked up a notch.
READ MORE: 50 shades of green? Olympic diving pool appears to be filling with algae
“I don’t know what’s happened. I think they bumped up the chlorine or something because my eyes are stinging,” Australia’s water polo player Richie Campbell told Australian media. “’It hurts at the end of the game and we’ll probably get teary eyes for the next couple of hours but that’s alright. I felt it more towards the end. It wasn’t too bad in the water but now it’s really starting to sting.”
Rio officials said earlier this week the pool water poses no health risk to athletes.
–with a file from the Associated Press
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