If Zika virus, polluted water, pick pockets, and long lines into venues were not already causing concern at the Rio 2016 Games, a journalist has discovered another to add to the list – the showers.
READ MORE: Power, plumbing fears plague Athletes Village in Rio
Bill Chappell, a journalist for National Public Radio, tweeted a video from his Brazil hotel room showing the bizarre steps needed to take a shower.
“Say you wanna take a shower, you got four knobs to choose from,” Chappell says, pointing his camera at the four oddly placed shower controls on the wall. “What do you do? Just turn to the sink, man.”
READ MORE: Could #RioProblems be worse than #SochiProblems?
As Chappell turns the sink faucet, the water begins to flow from the shower.
“Welcome to Brazil,” says Chappell.
Jeff McTainsh, who works for New Zealand’s Newshub, also shared video of a faulty shower in his suite.
“You would have heard a lot about things being unfinished for this Olympics. Well the bathroom I’m standing in is a perfect example of that, let me show you,” he said.
Unlike the shower in Chappell’s room, McTainsh’s had just a single knob, but one other very important piece of plumbing missing.
“This here is where the shower head should be – no shower head,” he said. “Maybe that’s still in the schedule to be completed in the next few days…water still comes out, so you can still have a shower, but it’s far from ideal.”
McTainsh also tweeted photos of large pools of water collecting on the floor of a colleague’s adjoining room.
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https://twitter.com/Jeff_McTainsh/status/760134090490253312
McTainsh said “friendly staff” installed a shower head in his bathroom the following day.
And freelance reporter Lewis Hampton’s apartment flooded after taking a shower.
“You’ll notice quite a few towels on the floor,” Lewis Hampton told Newshub. “It seems the piping isn’t quite up to standard here.”
READ MORE: Olympic media, athletes air their #SochiProblems
It’s not the first time journalists have encountered less than ideal living conditions while reporting on the Olympics.
There were plenty of photos and videos shared from Sochi, Russia during the 2014 Winter Games.
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