Australian Athletes Robbed During Fire Evacuation in Olympic Village (AND The Alarms Were Silenced)

Australia’s Olympic delegation refused to move athletes into the Olympic Village last weekend because of “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring.” They finally did move in later in the week, but were evacuated on Friday when a small fire broke out in a car park. This resulted in two new Rio horror stories. First – the fire alarms had apparently been silenced. Australia’s Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller was not impressed. Via ABC.net.au:

"The team received a certificate two days ago to say the building complied with fire standards. “What we have subsequently found is that the fire alarms had been silenced while they were carrying out maintenance on the building next door to ours,” she said. “We hadn’t been advised that the fire alarms were silenced, so how we found out was basically smoke in the corridors and stairwells."

Yikes. Second, some of the athletes were robbed while their building was evacuated. According to Australia’s 9 News “at least” 3 laptops, along with an undisclosed amount of clothing, were stolen from the Australian Olympic dorms. This was the same night that a Chinese athlete was thrown up on while a cameraman was robbed. Among other crimes, kidnappings are also hitting the news.