Sabotage at Olympic village

Photo: The Canadian Press

U.S. Olympic rower Emily Regan arrives at the Rio de Janeiro International Airport, Thursday.

Rio Olympic organizers say water and gas leaks, blocked toilets, and electrical faults that have slowed teams from moving into the Athletes Village may have been caused by isolated cases of sabotage.

Rio spokesman Mario Andrada says "we haven't seen enough to say it was organized sabotage" but he acknowledges a few unhappy workers could have caused problems. He says most were likely "organizational problems."

All 31 buildings at the massive compound for 18,000 athletes and staff are due to be ready at the end of Thursday, with the games opening in just over a week. Andrada says about 400 of the 3,600 rooms in the complex had defects.

Australia refused to check in at Sunday's official opening, setting off public complaints by a dozen other teams.