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The mysterious
shade of the water, which contrasted sharply against the blue
hue of water polo pool beside it, generated jokes about algae
and dye on social media and overshadowed the women's 10 meter
synchronized platform final.
British diver Tonia Couch said the pool's water was so green she
could not see her partner Lois Toulson underwater, The Times
said on Twitter.
Rio 2016 organizers said tests at the Maria Lenk Aquatic
Centre's diving pool found that the water was no risk to health,
although they were still investigating.
The executive director of swimming's world governing body FINA
told Reuters that the problem may have come from a faulty filter
or problematic water quality.
"No danger for divers, just not a good image for Olympic
Broadcasting Services," said FINA's Cornel Marculescu, adding
that he was not sure how quickly the pool water could be brought
back to its normal color.
The problem comes on top of worries over dangerous levels of
pollution in Rio's Guanabara Bay and concerns that floating
garbage could damage or slow sailors.
Most divers, however, said the color was no issue, even though
the pool's water was perfectly blue during the men's 10 meter
platform event on Monday.
"When we were practicing to get used to this venue (the water)
was always sky blue...But we're always mentally prepared for
unexpected situations," China's Liu Huixia, who won the gold
medal with partner Chen Ruolin, told Reuters.
Bronze medalist Meaghan Benfeito of Canada told reporters that
the color had made her and her partner Roseline Filion want to
laugh, but the green actually helped. "It's not the same color
as the sky so that was really on our side today."
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Alexandra
Ulmer and Scott Malone; Editing by Toby Davis)
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