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 women’s 3-meter springboard semifinals were held at one end of the facility Saturday, the bigger pool was slowly being drained. Gustavo Nascimento, director of venue management for Rio 2016, said the entire operation would take 10 hours – six to drain the dirty water out of the competition pool and four to bring in clean water using 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.

“That’s going to be an impressive feat,” American diver Kassidy Cook, “if they can pull it off.”

THE IAAF SAID it has banned long jumper Darya Klishina, the only Russian who was entered in a track and field event.

Klishina’s eligibility was revoked based on new information the IAAF received last week, spokesman Yannis Nikolaou told the Associated Press. He would not specify what the new information is or who delivered it.

Klishina was previously the only one of 68 Russian track and field athletes who was deemed eligible to compete in the Olympics amid a massive doping scandal. The IAAF had accepted her application because she is based in the United States. The rest of the Russian team was banned over allegations of a widespread, state-sponsored doping program.

Nikolaou said Klishina has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and a decision is expected either Sunday or Monday, before the long jump competition begins Tuesday. Mathieu Reeb, the secretary general of the court, confirmed by email to the AP that the appeal had been filed.