Chef-de-mission Mohamed Al-Amin Abdul Majid said what happened to the first group, as reported prior to this, was normal as the buildings in the athlete’s village were newly-constructed ones.

“It is akin to entering a new house and this is a new sports village. There are about 31 blocks of buildings and the maintenance division does not deal with all simultaneously.

“Nevertheless, I have asked our secretariat there to ensure all difficulties are promptly overcome,” he told reporters after the contingent’s meeting with Prime Minister Najib Razak at the Prime Minister’s Office here yesterday.

However, Al-Amin said he was confident the problems would be overcome by the organisers before the Games starts officially on Aug 5.

The first group, comprising archery, sailing and shooting athletes who arrived in Rio de Janeiro were reported to have been given dirty rooms when they registered at the sports village.

The sports village was built to accommodate 18,000 people, comprising athletes and officials from all over the world, with 31 blocks (3,604 apartment units) in Barra da Tijuca, close to the Rio Sports Complex.

In the meantime, Al-Amin said the prime minister’s message was a shot in the arm to the national contingent in the effort to collect the first gold medal for Malaysia at the Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, asked on the involvement of the private sector in rewarding athletes winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games, he expected certain parties to do so.

“I feel it is still too early to broach on the corporate sector involvement, but I am confident if successful, there surely will be offers.

“Regardless, I don’t want athletes to think of rewards first. The rewards offered just now have been mentioned prior to this,” he said.

Najib had said the gold medal winner would be rewarded RM1 million and a monthly pension of RM5,000 from the government.

Any Malaysian silver medallist would receive a RM3,000 monthly pension and the winner of a bronze medal would get RM2,000 a month, Al-Amin said.