Olympics-Diving-Organisers shut pool to treat green water
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Olympic organizers canceled diving training on Friday morning and shut the pool in an attempt to restore the water to its original blue color.
The pool turned an emerald green earlier this week, becoming the subject of numerous jokes and creating a headache for the organizers. An adjacent pool, being used for water polo and synchronized swimming, has also started to change color.
"We confirm that diving training in Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre's pool is canceled this morning," Rio 2016 said in a statement.
"The reason is that the water must be still so the pool can return to its blue color as soon as possible. Athletes are performing dry training this morning in Maria Lenk," it said, referring to a section of the venue where divers can practice using trampolines, platforms and harnesses.
The organizers said the pool would reopen later on Friday for training as well as for the women's individual three-meter springboard preliminaries.
World swimming governing body FINA said the color change was the result of a failure by the organizers to sufficiently treat the water after tanks at the venue ran out of pool chemicals.
The organizers responded by putting more chlorine -- a chemical that kills algae and helps to keep water blue -- in the pool and its neighbor but water polo players later complained about stinging eyes. (Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Clare Fallon)
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