The Olympic diving pool is closed because of its green water

RIO DE JANEIRO – Olympic organizers cancelled a Friday morning training session for divers when the water in the pool turned as green as an Amazonian lagoon.

Green water in the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre has been a recurring problem, but Friday's decision marked the first time that water quality has forced organizers to cancel competition.

"This is a disaster," said Leonardo Scanapieco, 43, a Brazilian fan who watched the water polo match between the United States and Montenegro at the adjacent pool. "A competition in front of the whole world, of such great importance, and this is the quality of the water? For us, this is shameful."

Britain's Tom Daley, who won bronze in the synchronized platform dive with partner Daniel Goodfellow on Monday, tweeted doctor's mask emojis on Friday, adding, "Hopefully that means we haven't been diving in anything too bad the last couple of days!"

FINA, swimming's international governing body, has said that the water had not been sufficiently treated but insisted it was safe for competition. A statement from the Rio Organizing Committee on Friday said that canceling training sessions was necessary because "the water must be still so the pool can return to its blue color as soon as possible." Denied access to the pool, athletes would be doing "dry training," the statement said, and the competition would resume in the afternoon.

When the problem first surfaced earlier this week, Rio Organizing Committee spokesman Mario Andrada blamed a "sudden change in alkalinity."

"We treated both pools in the night and the alkalinity levels have improved," he said on Wednesday. "We expect the color to be back to blue soon."

Olympic staff pumped in chlorine to kill algae, but some athletes felt too much was added. On Wednesday, the captain of the U.S. men's water polo team, Tony Azevedo, told reporters that the water stung and he had trouble seeing because of the high chlorine content.

"What's ridiculous is not the green water. I've played in plenty of pools with green water. The problem is they put way too much chlorine in," he said. "I could barely open my eyes for the final quarter."

Another athelete, Hungarian water polo player Gergo Zalanki, said he wasn't sure chlorine was the only problem.

"My eyes hurt from the water, it's not good," he said. "It feels like they added more chlorine to the water but I'm not sure. I'm used to it because we have a lot of water like this in Hungary, but I think there might be something else wrong, too."

On Friday morning, the diving boards were empty and a pool cleaner was sweeping the emerald pool. The water polo match, in a slightly less green pool, was proceeding uninterrupted.

Some fans were not too upset by the situation. Adam Beebe, 35, who works for the Peace Corps and lives in Washington, had an American flag draped around his shoulders as he cheered for the water polo game. He felt Brazil was getting too much flak for how the Games were proceeding, but that such hiccups don't "spoil the fun."

If green water "is one of the most notable things that has happened, then that's a good thing," he said.

Looking at the green water, Nick Teichen, an attorney from Minneapolis, said, "you would think that they would have figured that out by now."

"The world's watching," he added. "So someone didn't do their job."