Olympic Committee promises “flawless” Athletes' Village by Thursday

After the Australian delegation's complaints about the condition of their allocated building in the Athletes' Village at the past weekend, the Olympic Organizing Committee on Monday (Jul. 25) promised to deliver a “flawless” building by the end of this week, probably Thursday (28).

The Olympic Village consists of 17 31-storey buildings totaling more than 3,600 apartments, designed to accommodate nearly 18,000 athletes and coaching staff during the games. About 700 athletes have already moved in.

Mário Andrada, Executive Director of Communications at the Committee, says this is not the time to look for culprits, but to find solutions to the problems found in some buildings. “We have 630 men working 24 hours a day to fix the problems in the Athletes' Village. While we are very sorry that athletes did not find the village in order when they arrived, we are now more confident that we will be able to deliver a flawless village, possibly by Thursday.”

For Andrada, it is to be expected that a project that size—3,600 apartments—might have issues, and, he pointed out, they were identified in time to be fixed before the start of the games. He pointed out that “all Olympic committees” toured the Athletes' Village, including Australia's. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said he is confident that the organizing committee is going to meet its responsibilities. “Things are much better now. Indeed, Australia's was the worst building, but we're making progress, as I am told by the Organizing Committee in charge of the village,” he said.

Translated by Mayra Borges