The plague of green swimming pool water afflicting the Rio 2016 Olympics is spreading.
The funky color hit the second pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Stadium on the fifth day of the competition.
Here’s the view on August 10th, the fifth day of competition in the pool:
The diving pool, on the right, is keeping up its extremely dark shade as before.
But on the left, the syncronized swimming/water polo pool is also beginning to turn.
For comparison, here is the pool the day before, when only the diving area was green:
It’s a major embarrassment for Olympic organizers, who have been caught out in a way that would put a local swimming pool to shame.
It comes amid widespread scepticisim that cash-strapped Brazil will be able to meet the standards of previous games in richer countries.
After the first pool turned, and array of theories were floated for why – among them that algae, copper or even urine was responsible.
#AUS water polo players left with ‘stinging eyes’ as pool turns green #Rio2016 https://t.co/iUAgVMi0AQ pic.twitter.com/bOIeDHNsNN
— Daily Mail Australia (@DailyMailAU) August 10, 2016
According to CNN, however, it was a lack of cleaning chemicals that was really to blame.
FINA, the body that oversees competition swimming, said they ran out of vital chemicals needed to keep up the pure blue color.
Organizers insisted that the water was safe for athletes throughout – albeit a bit icky.
