Unlike diving venues at the previous two Olympics, the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre is open air. The temperatures in the Brazilian capital, which is going through its winter season, can rise to as high as 30 degrees celsius (86 degrees fahrenheit) and fall to as cold as 17 degrees celsius.
“I’ve had six days of practice and every day was different, the sun is at a different spot every time… Sometimes it’s windy, cloudy, but the wind is the thing that bothers me the most, so I really hope on competition day there won’t be any wind,” the 28-year-old said.
“The Austrian delegation brought a whole team of rain dancers,” he said jokingly.
Malaysia’s Nur Dhabitah Sabri said conditions had worsened since February, when most of the divers had their first taste of the venue at the Olympic qualifying event.
“It’s quite windy compared to February, it’s hotter… The wind is a disadvantage because we train in indoor pools but we have to get used to it because we have no choice.”
The weather may shift from sunny to overcast during the women’s synchronised 3 metre springboard final on Aug. 7, the first event of the competition, according to weather reports provided by the Rio 2016 organisers.
Thankfully, divers can rely on hot tubs to keep them warm between dives, said Jamaica’s Yona Knight-Wisdom.
“It’s actually a lot better than what I was expecting, I thought it was going to be a little bit colder, it’s just when we’re in the shade it’s a little bit chilly.”
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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