Rio was a pile-up of problems ahead of the Olympics, but no one expected the pool water to be green.
Unfinished stadiums? Sure. Robbed athletes? Why not. Toxic waters by the beach? Com zerteza! But when it came to something as basic as clean and clear water in the diving pool, that felt like a given.
Nevertheless, diver after diver plunged into the verdant deep Tuesday and for a while no one could figure out why the tint was off, although officials assured us there was "no risk" to athletes and they were "investigating the cause of the situation."
Now, FINA, the international federation of swimming, has explained what happened.
"The reason for the unusual water color observed during the Rio 2016 diving competitions is that the water tanks ran out some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process," they said.
"As a result the pH level of the water was outside the usual range, causing the discoloration. The FINA Sport Medicine Committee conducted tests on the water quality and concluded that there was no risk to the health and safety of the athletes, and no reason for the competition to be affected."
The divers might disagree. In fact, a number of them were pretty disconcerted, if not distracted, by the color. “It (was) so green,” British diver Tonia Couch said. “As the sun went down it looked worse.”
An expert from the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG), Ralph Riley, said that “if it has gone green and that is because there is not enough disinfectant there would be some kind of implied risk." Riley added PWTAG strongly advised against swimming in green water.
Rio spokesman Mario Andrada has since promised that the “water will be blue from now on.”
However, social posts coming out of Rio have been indicating that the second pool is actually turning green to match the first.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
