Like swimming in soup: Australia swimming coach complains of ‘cloudy’ water in Olympic Games training pool

The water quality controversy surrounding the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro extended to the indoor Aquatics Centre when an Australia swimming coach refused to let his athletes practice in the main training pool due to fears of infection.

Michael Bohl, one of the leading coaches on the Australia team, became concerned when he saw the training pool in Barra da Tijuca become “cloudy” and “soupy” during the afternoon, less than two days before the start of the swimming programme.

Bohl’s group, which included backstroke world champion Mitch Larkin and butterflyers Emma McKeon and Grant Irvine, had booked a session in the training pool and would have had uninterrupted use of it. Instead, they switched to the far busier main competition pool before undertaking their laps.

“That pool looked really cloudy so rather than risk and eye or ear or nose infections we came in here (to the main pool),” Bohl said.

“People were swimming in it but I just thought for these guys – it started out nice in that pool, but all of a sudden as (time) wore on the water just got really soupy looking.”