Australian swim team pulled from Rio training pool when water turns 'soupy'

August 6, 2016

Concerns about water quality at the have expanded to include the inside training pool: top   coach Michael Bohl moved his  athletes from the main training pool on Thursday citing fear of infection.

The team had a pre-booked session in the training pool where they would have practiced uninterrupted. However, during the session the water in the pool turned, as Bohl described, "cloudy" and "soupy looking". Concerned about his athletes' health, he moved them from the training pool to the busier, but cleaner, main competition pool.

Bohl took his concerns to officials and was told the matter would be looked into.

This comes off the back of other water concerns in Rio, particularly in the venue for outdoor water events. An -commissioned study found Rio's Olympic waterways contained as much as 1.7 million times worse viral levels than the emergency threshold in or the. As a result, athletes were advised to keep their mouths closed and avoid putting their heads underwater or risk falling ill.

Swimming events at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games are to begin today.