Something smells at Rio's Olympic diving pool
Training cancelled but diving competition is still going ahead
By Justin Robertson, CBC Sports
Rio officials have confirmed that the Olympic diving pool will be closed for training today.
The pool's hue has turned murky green and has worsened over the last few days. The closure is meant to not disturb the water further and help it change back to blue.
"We confirm that diving training in Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre pool is canceled this morning," said Rio 2016 spokesman Philip Wilkinson, according to CNN. "The reason is that the water must be still so the pool can return to its blue color as soon as possible."
Former Canadian hurdler and CBC reporter Perdita Felicien confirmed tests were done on the pool this morning.
**Diving update: water tests were done this am, which postponed practice--not competition. Diving will go on as planned today. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rio2016?src=hash">#Rio2016</a>
—@perditafelicienRio 2016 confirm diving pool closed this morning while they continue to sort out the water. One or two athletes had "itchy eyes". Erm..
—@owen_gThe news of the closure prompted some concerns from Olympic athletes.
Diving pool is closed this morning. Hopefully that means we haven't been diving in anything too bad the last couple of days! 😷😷😷
—@TomDaley1994Show up for my warmup and without prior noticd they say the pool is closed this morning - <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FixTheSwamp?src=hash">#FixTheSwamp</a> should start trending <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/rio2016?src=hash">#rio2016</a>
—@AbbyLJohnstonAustralian journalist Tom Steinfort heard a German diver's description of the odour in the stadium.
The Olympic diving pool has been closed again because of water quality issues...a German diver says "the whole building smells like a fart"
—@tomsteinfortCompetition for the women's 3-metre springboard is set to run as scheduled at 2:30 p.m. ET. Canadians Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware are competing. It will be live streamed on cbc.ca/olympics and the CBC Rio 2016 app.
Athletes will use trampoline routines and dry-land training to warm up until the pool re-opens.
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