RIO DE JANEIRO -- Olympic officials gave up on cleaning the green-tinged water in one of the pools at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center. Instead, they began draining it Saturday and planned to transfer nearly 1 million gallons of clear water from a nearby practice pool in time for the start of synchronized swimming.Mario Andrada, a spokesman for Rio 2016, said the radical measure was necessary to ensure clear water for both judges and competitors during an event that requires swimmers to spend much of their time underwater.He stressed again that the kale-colored water posed no risk to the health of the athletes. An adjacent, smaller pool will continue to be used for the diving competition, even though it remains murky. American diver Abby Johnston has dubbed it the swamp.Of course it is an embarrassment because we are hosting the Olympic Games, Andrada said. It should be light blue, transparent. We could have done better in fixing it quickly. We learned a painful lesson the hard way.While the womens 3-meter springboard semifinals were held at one end of the facility Saturday, the bigger pool was slowly being drained. It had already dropped several inches as officials scurried around the deck, checking the water level and hauling out pumps and hoses that were to be used for the transfer.Gustavo Nascimento, director of venue management for Rio 2016, said the entire operation will take 10 hours -- six to drain the dirty water out of the competition pool and four to bring in clean water using the pumps and hoses. He said it should be completed by 7 a.m. Sunday, four hours before the scheduled start of the first synchronized swimming event of the games.Thats going to be an impressive feat, American diver Kassidy Cook, if they can pull it off.The larger pool had been used for water polo preliminary games. That sport was already scheduled to move to the 15,000-seat Olympic Aquatics Stadium after the final session of swimming Saturday night.The water in the diving well turned a dark shade of green Tuesday, and the larger pool began to turn the same color the following day. While both pools seem to be improving a bit, Nascimento said there was not enough time to complete the cleaning process by Sunday.He blamed a contractor for mistakenly dumping hydrogen peroxide into the pool late last week, which caused an adverse reaction when it mixed with chlorine. The dirty water will be disposed of using the citys sewage system, which has already come under intense scrutiny for dumping untreated waste into waters that are being used for rowing, canoeing, sailing, triathlon and open water swimming.There are two warmup pools at Maria Lenk, and neither was affected by the issues inside the stadium. The one used by water polo teams will be drained since it wont be needed after Saturday, while the synchronized swimmers will continue to have use of their practice pool.Some divers have said the green water actually helps them during competition by giving them a contrast with the blue sky when theyre spinning through the air.Others had a different view.Today was pretty gross, Australias Maddison Keeney said after Saturdays competition. Youre standing on the stairs and you cant see your feet, one and half meters down. When youre standing up there its a bit off-putting. Ive never had a pool like this ever before. I just try to close my eyes and close my mouth. Hopefully I am going up and not down.There were plenty of snarky posts on social media. After the diving pool was closed for a scheduled practice session Friday, Germanys Patrick Hausding posted a couple of pictures, one holding his nose with the caption Good morning from the green lake!Andrada stressed that Rio officials had been able to solve myriad issues plaguing the games, but conceded they were out of short-term options when it came to the green water. A day before, he attempted to explain trouble fixing the water by declaring that chemistry is not an exact science.This is probably the only problem we were unable to solve quickly, he said. The embarrassment wont last forever.Rio officials are also dealing with another aquatics venue mishap.The starting platform for the open water course broke into three pieces in bad weather, forcing the cancellation of practice Saturday at Fort Copacabana. A backup platform is set to be brought in for the womens 10-kilomter race Monday.One piece from the shattered platform washed up on the famous beach at Copacabana.Twenty water polo games have been played at Maria Lenk since the water began to change. While some players complained about a burning sensation in their eyes, apparently caused by extra chlorine being added to the water in an attempt to clean it, no major issues were reported.At the end of the day, yeah, the color of the pool may be different or the pH level is whatever it is, but its a pool, U.S. womens captain Maggie Steffens said. If youre a competitor like we all are, if youre here for the right reasons, youre not worried about that. Youre worried about playing the game.---AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen contributed to this report.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 and Beth Harris at www.twitter.com/bethharrisap . Adidas NMD Schweiz Shop . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. Adidas NMD Schweiz Kaufen Online . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. http://www.schweiznmd.ch/ .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. Adidas NMD Schweiz Discount . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. Adidas NMD Schweiz Outlet . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Mathieu Perreault thought he would try to take advantage of being left-handed -- and it worked.After some of his Winnipeg teammates couldnt beat Roberto Luongo on his glove side, the forward flipped in a forehand shot in the sixth round of the shootout to give the Jets a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. The Jets ended a four-game losing streak.Coming down as a lefty, sometimes low blocker is an option and it was there for me so I took it, Perreault said.Bryan Little also scored in the shootout for Winnipeg and Vincent Trocheck had Floridas goal in the shooting contest.Dustin Byfuglien had a goal and an assist, Little and Adam Lowry also scored in regulation, and Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves.Aleksander Barkov, Reilly Smith and Vincent Trocheck scored power-play goals -- with Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom in the penalty box for each one -- in the second period for Florida.I think we were just moving it a little quicker, keeping it simple, getting more shots on net, Florida coach Tom Rowe said. And then when you get the penalty killers out of position, plays will open up.Luongo made 29 saves.He was great, Rowe said. I mean, hes one of the best in the world for a reason and were lucky to have him.Florida had a 3-2 lead heading into the third period, but with the teams on a 4-on-4, Little took a cross-ice paass from Blake Wheeler and tied it at 2:36.ddddddddddddThe Jets were being outshot 19-7 in the first when Byfuglien took a pass from rookie Patrik Laine and put a high shot from the bottom of the circle over Luongos glove with 11 seconds left in the period.The Panthers scored the trio of power-play goals as Enstrom was sitting in the penalty box for interference, then holding, then interference again.Im not worried about Tobys penalties, Jets coach Paul Maurice said. Hes not a careless player and hes not a lazy player by any means.Barkov tied it at 1 at 4:51 of the second. Jaromir Jagr picked up his 1,129th career assist and 1,884th point on the goal. Jagr is three points away from tying Mark Messier for second place on the NHL points list.Smith followed up with his fifth goal of the season at 8:36 to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead, but Lowry tied it at 10:11 when he banged in a loose puck. Less than two minutes later, Trocheck made it 3-2 with a shot that went past a screened Hellebuyck at 11:58.Game notes Winnipeg has given up a power-play goal in each of its past four games. ... Winnipeg had three shots on goal in overtime, while Florida had two.UP NEXT:Panthers: At Colorado on Friday night.Jets: Host Colorado on Sunday. ' ' '