News
Another blow to the Australian Olympic team in Rio
The Australian Olympic team has suffered another blow in Rio as they prepare for the 2016 Olympic Games. The team has already refused to move into their “uninhabitable” accommodation with concerns over “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring”. Now, just a mere week out from the opening ceremony, the team has become victims of theft after they were forced to evacuate their rooms due to a fire.
Team shirts and a laptop belonging to a cycling coach were stolen last Friday. The suspected cause of fire was a cigarette carelessly tossed into rubbish. Around 100 team members and staff left the building for half an hour.
“We did lose some shirts and a couple of laptops, one on the fifth floor from a cycling official and one in the office downstairs,” the Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred said on Sunday.
But the graver concerns came later when the Australian team discovered the alarm system had been deactivated without them knowing while workers fixed a neighbouring building.
Tucker Carlson hits back at "stupid" Aussie journalist
Kitty Chiller, the Australian chef de mission, told the Guardian: “Obviously that is completely unacceptable that a) the fire alarm was disabled and b) that if it had to be, that we weren’t warned about that.”
She further added, “[The robbery) is concerning.”
“When you have got 15,000 beds, there are a lot of people walking around the village. I’m not accusing anybody but there are a lot of non-accredited workers, cleaners, housekeepers, maintenance workers still walking around.
“Unfortunately in an area of that size with the number of buildings and rooms that there are, theft is going to be inevitable.”
The Australian team have increased security with extra private guards for each floor of the 18-storey building.
Related links:
Our Partners
