Australia refuses to send athletes to Rio Olympic Village

World Today

Australia refuses to send athletes to Rio Olympic Village

The official opening of the biggest athlete’s village turned to a fiasco because of unfavorable accommodations.

Australia has refused to move their athletes into the facility, calling it unsafe.

CCTV America’s Lucrecia Franco reports from Rio.

The ribbon cutting ceremony for Rio’s brand new Olympic Village was supposed to be a grand welcoming to athletes from more than 200 countries.

Some teams that have already arrived decorated the Village’s buildings with the name of their countries and flags, including Australia. The team from Down Under moved to a hotel after discovering blocked toilets and leaky pipes, among other issues.

The Olympic Village which a 31-building complex and is considered the largest in Olympic history.

Brazil built it expressly for these games. Around 18,000 people will be living there from athletes to coaches.

Rio’s Olympic organizers said these kinds of problems have plagued all Olympic Games and promised to fix everything and even laughed off the matter.

The Australians aren’t amused. Organizers said they sent more than one thousand cleaners and repair staff to the athletes’ village.

With less than two weeks before the first Olympic Games kick off, Australia’s criticism is a another blow for Rio which is struggling, amid a deep recession, to keep its promise to deliver “great games” even if there is still some work to do.