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Australian Athletes Refuse to Stay in Olympic Village Over Issues Like ‘Blocked Toilets’

A view of the Team Australia building during the delegation’s arrival at the Olympic Village on July 24, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Australian delegation decided not to stay in the Village due to several habitational issues. Jayson Braga/Brazil Photo Press/LatinContent/Getty Images

Roughing it in Rio. Australian athletes are refusing to stay in the rooms that have been assigned to them at the Olympic Village in Brazil for the upcoming Summer Games.

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The Australian Olympic Committee said on Sunday that the housing is not acceptable, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The Olympians were supposed to move in that night, but are instead staying at nearby hotels.

“For over a week now, AOC staff have been working long hours to get our section of the village ready for our athletes,” team manager Kitty Chiller said in a statement. “Problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean. In operations areas, water has come through the ceiling, resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring.”

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The committee tested some of the apartments on Saturday but were disappointed by the results. The building couldn’t handle the simultaneous usage of multiple toilets and outlets.

“The system failed,” Chiller continued. “Water came down walls; there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments; and there was shorting in the electrical wiring.”

This isn’t the first Olympics to face backlash over poor living conditions. In 2014, the Twitter hashtag #SochiProblems was created during the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia when journalists revealed their hilarious hotel experiences. Some of the problems included no heat or Internet, no reception area or lobby, and yellow water.

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The Rio Olympics have been surrounded by controversy for a few months now — and the Games haven’t even started yet. Many athletes, including golfers Rory McIIroy and Dustin Johnson, have pulled out over Zika concerns. Last month, the governor of Rio de Janeiro also declared a state of financial emergency and asked for support to avoid a collapse in health, education and public security infrastructure, among other services.

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