Less than 100 days out from the opening ceremonies to the Rio Olympics, the test events designed to test readiness and procedures for the games were mired by many technical and other issues as the clock runs down to the opening ceremonies.
There were power cuts, overheated swimming pools, insufficient air conditioning and faulty spotlights as just some of the many issues facing the test events from today. However, the federations for swimming, shooting and gymnastics did insist that the test events went off without a hitch and are satisfied with the progress made.
One of the power cuts caused 15-90 minute delays during the gymnastics test events, and Andre Gueisbuhler, who heads the International Federation of Gymnastics said that one of the outages “endangered the safety of athletes”. The outage was due to a broken cable thanks to construction around the site. Another took place before the French and Belgian artistic gymnastic teams rotated during their event.
“I never saw a delay like that in the European or World Championships,” said a member of the French delegation to AFP.
“In the end, the girls made it out okay, but it’s really a pain when the training is timed and you’ve set an entry at a specific time in your mind and body.”
An overheated generator was the cause of the power outages during the 50 meter freestyle swimming competition. The outage lasted 60 minutes.
“The risk of this happening again during the Games is zero, because we will have a dual power feed system,” sports director Rodrigo Garcia said, adding that there has only been one generator so far to reduce costs. Thanks to a major recession in Brazil, the OC’s operating budget for the games has been cut by 20%.
