Extensive remedial works have begun on Rio’s Olympic village as the host city seeks to allay concerns about accommodation for athletes, following the refusal of Australia to move its team in until improvements were made. 
 
 The head of Australia’s delegation, Kitty Chiller, on Sunday raised concerns over “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring” inside the complex of high-rise apartment blocks intended to house athletes for the duration of next month’s Games. 
 
 
 
 Australian Olympic Committee staff had been due to move into the village on 21 July but have instead been living in nearby hotels. Chiller said that for those coming in the next three days alternative accommodation has been arranged but she remained confident the problems would be solved by Wednesday. 
 
 “We had a huge team of plumbers in here, they’ve done diagnostic testing on every pipe in every apartment in every bathroom on all our 14 floors,” Chiller told ABC News. “That diagnostic testing will continue into the evening and into the night also and into tomorrow. 
 
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 “It’s just a matter of identifying the leaking pipes which has now been done largely throughout our building and then bringing in the workmen which is now happening to fix those pipes – it’s just tightening connections,” she said. 
 
 Hundreds of athletes arrived in Rio on Sunday and were due to move into the village, which is said to be the biggest ever at an Olympics. Australian boxers and canoe slalomists – including medal hopes Shelley Watts and Jessica Fox – were among those expected to arrive on Monday. 
 
 By the opening ceremony on 5 August, the majority of the expected10,000 athletes are due to be housed in the complex of 31 buildings. The Rio 2016 website said the facilities would include the latest creature comforts. “Athletes staying in the village will be treated like kings. They are, after all, the stars of the show,” it says. 
 
 Extra maintenance staff and more than 1,000 cleaners have been engaged to help fix the problems and clean the village. 
 
 “We’re having plumbing problems, we’ve got leaking pipes,” said Mike Tancred, the spokesman for the Australia team. “We’ve got electrical problems. We’ve got cleaning problems. We’ve got lighting problems in some of the stairwells. We did a stress test on Saturday, turned on the taps and flushed the toilets, and water came flooding down the walls.” 
 
 Chiller said: “There was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was ‘shorting’ in the electrical wiring. We have been living in nearby hotels because the village is simply not safe or ready.” 
 
 Chiller and AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong had been attending nightly meetings on the issue and repeatedly expressed their concerns to the local organising committee and the IOC. 
 
 Rio de Janeiro officials referred to “teething troubles” and promised that crews “will be working 24 hours a day until the issues are resolved”. 
 
 “Athletes that are arriving in the village and whose accommodation is not finished will be placed in the best available accommodation in other buildings,” a statement from organisers said. 
 
 “We will be working hard to ensure that the ongoing works do not disturb their preparations for the Games – preparations that will be taking place in fully checked, top quality training venues. We regret any inconvenience that this may cause and we greatly appreciate the understanding of the National Olympic Committees at this time.” 
 
 Problems such as these are not uncommon in Brazil where narrow pipes and poor plumbing mean residents throw toilet paper in bins rather than flush it away. 
 
 Chiller said the New Zealand and Great Britain teams had experienced similar problems, but officials from Team GB distanced themselves from the controversy and Rio officials said more than 200 athletes from other nations moved into the village on Sunday without complaint. 
 
 “We are confident that our accommodation is ready to receive athletes and will be to the highest standards within the village,” Team GB communications director Scott Field said in a statement. 
 
 “Whilst we have encountered some maintenance difficulties, this is not uncommon with new build structures of this type and we have been working hard to overcome them.” 
 
 The Italian team had experienced so many problems that it had contracted out its own renovations, the head of mission, Carlo Mornati, told Gazzetta dello Sport. The Dutch team is also said to have flown in its own technicians to get the buildings up to scratch. 
 
 Eduardo Paes, Rio’s outspoken mayor, made light of the Australians’ complaints, saying that repairs would be made and that “I am just about to put a kangaroo in front of their building so it can jump and make them feel at home”. He claimed the conditions in the village in Rio were better than those at Sydney in 2000. 
 
 On a visit to Rio in April, Chiller had been impressed by the progress being made on the athletes’ accommodation. “This is the fifth village I have seen, and been in, and I honestly think it’s the best,” Chiller said at the time. 
 
 The condominiums – called Ilha Pura (Pure Island) – were built by local developer Carvalho Hosken and the construction firm Odebrecht, whose president was sentenced to 19 years in prison earlier this year after being found guilty of paying bribes by the Lava Jato (Car Wash) corruption investigation. 
 
 It planned to recoup its investment by selling the 3,604 apartments for up to 1.5m reals (£350,000) each, but the property market has plunged by 20% over the past year. Earlier this year, Ilha Pura admitted it had sold only 240 of the 3,600 apartments – far below its expectations. 
 
 The 31-building compound contains tennis courts, football pitches, seven swimming pools, with mountains and the sea as a backdrop, topped off by a huge dining-kitchen compound that is as big as three football fields. 
 
 “From the exterior it looks like the Hilton hotel,” Tancred said. “But inside it’s not finished.” ||||| The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has hit back at the Australian Olympic Committee's concerns about the "uninhabitable" state of the athletes' village by cracking a joke about kangaroos. 
 
 "I almost feel like putting a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home," Eduardo Paes quipped on Sunday, less than two weeks out from the Olympic Games' opening ceremony. 
 
 But the situation is no laughing matter for Australian team officials, who on Sunday night confirmed that no Australian athletes would be moving into the village due to serious health and safety concerns. 
 
 Among the problems outlined by AOC chef de mission Kitty Chiller were serious electrical and sanitary problems, including blocked toilets, exposed wiring and water running down the walls of some apartments. 
 
 "For over a week now, AOC staff have been working long hours to get our section of the village ready for our athletes," Chiller said. 
 
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 "Problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean. 
 
 "In operations areas, water has come through the ceiling resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring. 
 
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 Link Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes inspects construction work at the Olympic Park's Tennis Centre in December. Photo: Getty Images 
 
 "We decided to do a 'stress test' where taps and toilets were simultaneously turned on in apartments on several floors to see if the system could cope once the athletes are in-house. 
 
 "The system failed. Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was shorting in the electrical wiring." 
 
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 Link Beds stand ready in the bedroom of an apartment of the Olympic Village in Rio. Photo: Leo Correa 
 
 Australian officials were forced to scramble to find alternative hotel accommodation for the first Australian athletes - boxers and canoeists - who were scheduled to move into the village on Sunday, local time. 
 
 Mr Paes responded that adjustments would be made to address the Australian team's concerns. Local media also quoted him as saying Rio's Olympic village was nicer than the one in Sydney. 
 
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 Link The Olympic Village in Rio, where a straight Daily Beast writer cruised for gay "dates" only to then unintentionally out the men online. Photo: Leo Correa 
 
 "Adjustments that have to be made will be made, and we will have the appropriate structure," Mr Paes told reporters in Brazil. 
 
 "As hosts, what we want is for everyone to feel at home ... It is natural that you have some kind of adjustments to do, but we will make Australians feel at home here. I almost feel like putting a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home." 
 
 Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred responded that plumbers would be more useful than kangaroos, local media reported. 
 
 "We do not need kangaroos, we need plumbers to account for the many puddles found in the apartments," Tancred was quoted as saying by Brazilian media outlet Folha. 
 
 "I almost feel like putting a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home," says Rio mayor. https://t.co/LpAoUzTdjO — Andrew Downie (@adowniebrazil) July 24, 2016 
 
 Team Australia refuse to live in "uninhabitable" Olympic Village. Rio mayor says it's nicer than the one in Sydney https://t.co/PxTOya92KG — Andrew Downie (@adowniebrazil) July 24, 2016 
 
 Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the president of the Organising Committee of Olympic Games Rio 2016, said criticisms and problems encountered in the lead-up to an Olympic Games were "natural". 
 
 He said the Olympic Village in Rio was "the best in the history of the Olympics", but said that adjustments to the apartments were needed. 
 
 "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. 
 
 "Other organisers of the Olympic Games have had similar situations or worse. Our mission is to fix what is done to have [a] spectacular Games." 
 
 The Rio organising committee has sent in large teams of cleaners and repair staff, but could not say when the village would be open. 
 
 Problems with accommodation in the lead-up to an Olympic Games are certainly not unique to Rio. 
 
 Questions were raised about the readiness of Russia to host the Winter Olympics in 2014 when some journalists turned up in Sochi to find their hotels were still under construction. 
 
 Others complained that the water coming from the taps was not drinkable, while one German photographer even said his hotel still had stray dogs and construction workers wandering in and out of rooms. 
 
 My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, "do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous." #Sochi2014 — Stacy St. Clair (@StacyStClair) February 4, 2014 
 
 Ok, so my hotel doesn't have a lobby yet. — Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) February 4, 2014 ||||| Kitty Chiller press conference in rio 01:22:22 AOC chef de mission Kitty Chiller gives a press conference on the living conditions of the Rio athletes village. 
 
 WATER LEAKS, unlit stairwells, blocked toilets - Rio’s Olympic village is under siege. 
 
 Australia has arranged for Monday’s first arrivals, including canoeing star Jessica Fox and boxer Shelley Watts, to stay in hotels due to major safety issues in the athletes’ village including sewage flowing into showers. 
 
 Australia’s team management have refused to stay in the village because they do not believe it is safe with leaks, bad lighting and other electrical issues. 
 
 IOC DECISION: Russia escapes blanket Rio ban 
 
 The Olympic Village, a 31-building complex located in the Barra da Tijuca district in the west of Rio de Janeiro, is meant to house more than 18,000 athletes and coaching staff over the coming weeks. 
 
 “Problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean,” the head of the Australian team, Kitty Chiller, said in a statement. 
 
 Rio’s mayor Eduardo Paes took a swipe at the Aussies for complaining about the conditions, saying: “I almost feel like putting a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home.” 
 
 Chiller had the perfect response. 
 
 “I tell you what Kitty you’ve come up with the quote of the Games so far,” Matty Johns said when talking to Chiller on Triple M’s The Grill Team on Monday morning. “I believe the Rio mayor when he heard about the complaints said he’d send over a kangaroo, that’ll look after things, and you said, ‘No, send us a plumber.’” 
 
 “We’ve already got a kangaroo, we don’t need another one. Get me a plumber mate, get me a plumber,” Chiller added. 
 
 The Olympic Village system failed a test on Saturday in which taps and toilets were turned on in apartments on several floors, she said. 
 
 “Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was ‘shorting’ in the electrical wiring.” 
 
 She said other delegations, including those from Britain and New Zealand, were experiencing the same problems. 
 
 Chiller said she would reassess the situation at the Village after further tests on plumbing and fire safety, but cautioned that “there is much work to be done.” More than 20 staff members have been unable to say in the village, and the first Australian athletes are due to arrive on Monday. 
 
 Chiller and AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong have attended emergency meetings every evening for the good part of a week. 
 
 The United States Olympics Committee has also acknowledged there are problems. 
 
 “As is the case with every games, we’re working with the local organisers to address minor issues and make sure the village is ready for Team USA athletes,” spokesman Patrick Sandusky told AP. 
 
 Britain said in a statement that it had found “some maintenance difficulties”, but many team members would be preparing in a training camp in the city of Belo Horizonte and would not need the village immediately. 
 
 The International Olympic Committee and local organisers held further emergency talks on Sunday and met with the heads of several teams. In a statement, the IOC said athletes with unfinished rooms would “be placed in the best available accommodation in other buildings”. It said fixing the problems “will take another few days”. 
 
 Rio organisers said that despite the problems, “a few hundred delegation members are moving in today as planne”. Local reports said about five per cent of the 3,600 apartments had gas, water and electrical faults, and some were without toilet fixtures. Rio was announced as the Games host city on October 2, 2009, but with political and economic upheaval in the country they have struggled to keep pace with construction deadlines even with that generous deadline. 
 
 One observer said there was a major clean-up required in the Olympic village as well as safety and practical issues to be addressed. 
 
 Chiller said the IOC will ask local organisers to do stress tests “throughout the Olympic Village”, a process that could force major delays and require people living there now to relocate. The compound contains tennis courts, soccer fields, seven swimming pools — with mountains and the sea as a backdrop — topped off by a massive dining-kitchen compound that’s as large as three football fields. 
 
 The 3,600 apartments are to be sold after the Olympics with some prices reaching $700,000. The development costs about $1.5 billion, built by the Brazilian billionaire Carlos Carvalho. 
 
 “From the exterior it looks like the Hilton Hotel,” Tancred said. “But inside it’s not finished.” 
 
 The last time an Olympic Village was finished just on or after the deadline was Athens in 2004 when athletes recall the smell of fresh paint in their rooms and walking across the unfinished village green areas which featured half grass and half dirt. 
 
 It remains an enduring memory of the Games for athletes. The standard of the villages are the subject of great scrutiny. 
 
 High standards are expected. 
 
 When Chiller published a photo on Twitter of a team bedroom, the size of two smallish beds close together brought a quick response from giant basketballer Andrew Bogut. 
 
 “Very roomy,’’ Bogut tweeted in response. “Teammates can snuggle.’’ 
 
 The Rio Games have had many challenges including the Zika virus, slow ticket sales, water pollution in venues for sailing and rowing. 
 
 Security threats, rising crime levels and the impeachment trial of President Dilma Rousseff expected to start after the Games have conspired to stall the momentum of the Games’ build-up. 
 
 A bicycle lane suspended above the sea and built as an Olympic showpiece, collapsed earlier this year, killing two pedestrians. 
 
 100 Olympic moments
– Australian athletes and coaching staff are in hotels instead of Rio's Olympic Village because the accommodations are in terrible shape, the head of the country's delegation says. Kitty Chiller says the problems include "blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed, and dirty floors in need of a massive clean," the Sydney Morning Herald reports. She says workers have been trying to fix the problems in the newly built accommodation blocks, which are supposed to house 18,000 workers and coaching staff, but when they turned on taps in several apartments at once, the "stress test" failed: "Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments, and there was shorting in the electrical wiring," she says. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes scoffed at the complaints, saying the accommodations are better than what Sydney provided for the 2000 Olympics. "I am just about to put a kangaroo in front of their building so it can jump and make them feel at home," he said. The Courier Mail reports that Chiller retorted: "We've already got a kangaroo, we don't need another one. Get me a plumber, mate, get me a plumber." With less than two weeks to go until the games begin, the Australians aren't the only ones having problems. The Italians and Dutch have hired their own teams to get athlete accommodations up to scratch, the Guardian reports, though Rio authorities say hundreds of athletes from other countries moved in over the weekend without complaint.