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The Best Epic Fails from the Rio Olympics
Not even humanity’s best can avoid these hilarious mishaps
The Olympics is considered as the foremost sports competition in the world—one wherein honor and glory are won only by the absolute best. Yet, to err is human. When there are thousands of athletes involved and not everyone can be a winner, embarrassing (okay, sometimes hilarious) fail moments are inevitable.
Olympic Diving Pool Turns Green

Photo: Adam Pretty / Getty Images
There was an uproar when an Olympic diving pool was closed down because the water turned a dark green. According to officials, the water's discoloration was due to a problem in the pool's pH levels. Apparently, the large number of athletes using the pool caused the automated pool control systems to break down. The whole thing was a disaster and as one German diver so eloquently put it, "The whole building smells like a fart."
Swimmer Flips Everyone Off

Photo via: Daily Hive (Link to: http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-olympics-swimmer-santo-condorelli-middle-finger)
Canadian swimmer Santo Condorelli garnered media attention when he was pictured doing his pre-race ritual: a huge middle finger to the crowd. No subtlety or shyness here, Condorelli's middle finger salute was for everyone to see. Condorelli explained that the middle finger salute was something he'd been doing ever since he started competing in swimming. He would do it to his dad (who attended all of his son's competitions including the Olympics) at every race to help calm his nerves. Turns out it was his old man's idea.
Pole Vaulter’s Pole Fails Him

Photo: Franck Fife / AFP / Getty Images
Statistically speaking, Asian men aren't the most gifted when it comes to certain body parts. But this wasn't a problem for Japanese pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita—at least in the Rio Olympics qualifying round. In a video of his pole vault attempt that went viral, just as Ogita was about to clear the bar, it seemed that his own mini-pole caught on the bar. Ogita later clarified that his leg had already hit the bar during the attempt and that his crotch wasn't the cause. Still, Ogita found humor in the viral video, "Watching again, this is pretty funny, if I say so myself. LOL."
Ryan Lochte Had A Really Bad Week

Ryan Lochte is a decorated athlete who won gold medals for the USA Swimming team. But as Howie Day can attest, "Even the best fall down sometimes." It started when his eccentric silver hair dye caught media attention when it turned green after a race. Lochte said, "I was going for a light blue, gray look. And then as soon as the chlorine hit, it started turning green. So I was like, 'Oh, great. This is just going to look awful.’”
Don’t get us started on the fake armed robbery incident, which got him and his teammates in trouble. But at least Lochte got to keep his gold medal, right?
Juan Martin del Potro Got Stuck In An Elevator

Photo via Twitter (link: https://twitter.com/jorgeviale/status/762294263761739776/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Del Potro, representing Argentina, was on his way to his match against the recognized no.1 tennis player in the world Novak Djokovic when the elevator he was in broke down. The mark of a good athlete is the ability to stay calm under pressure so despite having no signal and a nerve-wracking matchup he might be late to, del Potro did what any of us would do: take a bored selfie. Eventually, he was rescued by the Argentine handball team after 40 minutes of presumably finding better selfie angles.
Rio's Condom Guys Epic Win?

Photo via Twitter (Link to: https://twitter.com/rodger_sherman/status/762295656887283712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
When the fittest specimens of humanity are gathered in one area, there's bound to be a lot of action behind closed curtains. Olympic organizers took a hard look at the situation and decided that 450,000 condoms (100,000 of which were female condoms) would be needed for the Rio Olympics. Of course, distributing hundreds of thousands of condoms is no easy task. Thus, the appointed official staff members (a.k.a the Condom Guys) whose task was to hand out condoms and refill condom machines.