The Olympic Games kicks off in less than a week in Rio De Janeiro, with threats like Zika virus, drug-resistant bacteria and kidnapping for ransom looming continuing to loom awfully large over proceedings.
To add to all that stress, the Olympic Village – where athletes will camp out for the duration of the games – still appears to be dodgy. Just overnight, the Australian contingent were forced to evacuate, after a fire broke out on the premises.
The Aussie Olympic team have a short but colourful history with this particular building. Just last week, the AOC deemed it to be “unlivable” for athletes, complaining of leaking pipes, exposed wiring and general shoddiness.
In response to the kerfuffle, Rio’s mayor offered to put a kangaroo in front of the building to make our athletes feel “more at home” – a cute gesture, but not overly helpful.
The team have since left their temporary hotel accommodation and moved into their official digs, but last night’s fire is not a super encouraging sign of how things are going there.
Per Associated Press reports, the fire is believed to have stared in an underground floor of the building. Its cause is unknown, although no Aussie athletes were hurt. Mike Tancred of the AOC said:
“We’ve had a fire in the building. All are present and accounted for. No damage, just a small fire. Some smoke filled up the stairwell. [It’s] a good chance for us to put our emergency plan into action … I don’t know what caused the fire but it wasn’t the plumbing or anything like that.”
Earlier this week, New Zealand jiu jitsu fighter Jason Lee was kidnapped and forced to withdraw money from an ATM by corrupt members of Brazil’s military police, and later forced to hole up inside his apartment when they showed up at his door.
Yup, everything about this Olympics is going really well.
Source: News Corp.
Photo: Buda Mendes / Getty.
