"Blocked Toilets and Exposed Wiring" Force Aussies out of Olympic Village

Sub-standard conditions in the recently-opened athletes village could see the Australian Olympic team spend the entirety of the Rio de Janeiro Games in local hotel rooms.

The village was opened this morning (AET) in Rio with the first athletes expected to move in over the next few days - but the Aussie team have been shocked with the state of the facilities that are supposed to house the world's best athletes. They will be housed in hotels until the facilities are improved - which could be potentially mean the entirety of the Games.

"Problems include blocked toliets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean," Australia's chef de mission Kitty Chiller said, in a statement on the Australia Olympic website.

"In operations areas, water has come through the ceiling resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring."

The US$1.5 billion village in Barra da Tijuca has 31 different buildings, and is built to house more than 18,000 athletes, coaches and staff for the Games.

AUSTRALIA, WHICH IS BASICALLY SKULL ISLAND WHERE EVERYTHING IS TRYING TO KILL YOU, IS LIKE 'OH HELL NO' TO THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE.

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball)July 24, 2016

The Australian team have been 'testing' the facilities for the last week, recently even conducting a 'stress test' with below-par results.

"Taps and toliets were simultaneously turned on in apartments on several floors to see if the system could cope once the athletes were in-house," Chiller continued.

"The system failed. Water came down walls, there was a storng smell of gas in some apartments and there was 'shoting in the electrical wiring.'

The IOC reportedly held 'emergency talks' with Games organisers over the state of the village this morning.

Unlike their Aussie neighbours, New Zealand is ready to move into the village. Though he was initially disappointed with the calibre of the facilities, Kiwi chef de mission Rob Waddell confirmed their decision today. The New Zealand rowing and women's football teams will arrive tomorrow.

Rio mayor Eduardo Paes has defended the village in Brazilian media, saying they were superior to the athlete accommodation at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

"I almost feel like putting a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home," he said.

The state of the village is the latest in a roll call of problems for the Olympics, which have also been plagued by the Zika virus, polluted water, budget shortfalls, security and terror threats - and an unstable Brazilian government.