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Rio 2016: Olympic organizers say ‘isolated’ sabotage may have caused Athletes Village problems

General view of the Athletes Village is seen on July 23, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

RIO DE JANEIRO – Rio Olympic organizers say water and gas leaks, blocked toilets, and electrical faults that have slowed teams from moving into the Athletes Village may have been caused by isolated cases of sabotage.

Rio spokesman Mario Andrada says “we haven’t seen enough to say it was organized sabotage” but he acknowledges a few unhappy workers could have caused problems. He says most were likely “organizational problems.”

READ MORE: Could #RioProblems be worse than #SochiProblems?

All 31 buildings at the massive compound for 18,000 athletes and staff are due to be ready at the end of Thursday, with the games opening in just over a week. Andrada says about 400 of the 3,600 rooms in the complex had defects.

Australia refused to check in at Sunday’s official opening, setting off public complaints by a dozen other teams.

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