A mysterious thing happened at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center on Teusday as the water in the Olympic diving pool inexplicably turned green, just in time for women's synchronized 10-meter platform diving competition.
Though the sight is troubling, officials confirmed that the water had been tested and did not pose health hazard to athletes.
One BBC commentator said it looked like "the color of a gherkin" after appearing to become greener and murkier as the day went on.
The British diver Tom Daley, who won a bronze medal in the same pool the day before, posted a photograph on Twitter showing the contract between Monday's color and Tuesday's. "Ermmmm -- what happened?" he wrote in the tweet.
The adjoining pool, used for synchronized swimming and water polo, remained its normal blue color, which makes the greenness of the diving pool more striking.
Though the color was found to be weird and puzzling, the diving practice and women's synchronized event went on.
The situation overshadowed the news conference after the event with media's attention more focused in the water than the diving.
According to Meaghan Benfeito, who won the bronze medal along with her partner, Roseline Filion, said that the green water actually helped since it allows the divers to see the pool more clearly and thus remain more focused with the dives. She explained that on sunny days, blue water sometimes make diving more difficult, since it's hard to distinguish between the sky and the water as the diver is rotating in the air.
Though the water is already confirmed to be safe, she admitted that "we kept our mouths shut, just in case."
Source: The New York Times
Share It To Your Friends!
Loading...