The Pools in Rio Have Turned Green

As a famous frog once said, it's not easy being green. Most non-amphibious humans will have to take Kermit's word for it, but not members of the world's various diving teams. They get the thrill of plunging headfirst into the Palmolive-looking pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio. The picture above is from today. Here's what it looked at the Lenk like just three days ago:

It isn't a glitch in your television set—in a matter of days, the water has turned the color of money. Or acid. Why, you ask? They ran out of cleaning supplies! The governing body explains:

FINA can confirm that the reason for the unusual water color observed during the Rio 2016 diving competitions is that the water tanks ran out some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process. As a result the pH level of the water was outside the usual range, causing the discolouration. The FINA Sport Medicine Committee conducted tests on the water quality and concluded that there was no risk to the health and safety of the athletes, and no reason for the competition to be affected.

Green is, of course, the color of envy. But in this case, not so much. Olympics divers have no choice but to see an "unaffected" body of water. For the rest of us, it's more of a Jack Napier goes Joker scenario.