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Australia to move back to Rio's Olympic village

Xinhua, July 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Australian Olympic delegation said on Monday they will move back to the Olympic village as organizers made fantastic progress to repair the problems inside their accommodation.

Australia had been due to enter the village on June 21 but has since arranged alternative accommodation at nearby hotels, citing problems occurred at the village such as "blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring", according to an official statement on the Australian Olympic website.

In Sunday's opening ceremony at the Olympic village, Carlos Nuzman, president of Rio organizing committee, responded to questions about this issue.

"There are some adjustments that we are dealing with and that will be resolved in a short while," he said. "Every Olympic village, because of their magnitude, needs some adjustments until it becomes perfect. The important thing is that everything will be resolved before the Games, without disturbing the athletes."

The head of Australia's Olympics delegation said the team expects to move back on Wednesday.

Rio organizers also said that an emergency task force of more than 500 workers has been contracted to fix problems at the village. Olympic village mayor, Janeth Arcain, said the special task force began working on Sunday to make all "the necessary adjustments" by Wednesday.

"In 48 hours - or three days at the most - everything will be resolved," Arcain said. "We have reinforced our staff to resolve the issue."

Some other delegations also expressed their concerns over housing problems. Chinese delegation said their building has voltage turbulence, some bathrooms don't have heat water, and a toilet is also blocked.

But officials from Chinese delegation said the workers immediately repaired these problems. "It's normal to encounter some problems when you first move into a totally new building," the official said.

The New Zealand Chef de Mission Rob Waddell also said he was happy with the accommodation, even if the team need to work with organizers to get the facilities up to the standards. Endit