and by the end of the first half-hou

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Sabotage by unhappy workers may have caused water and gas leaks, blocked toilets and electrical faults that slowed teams from moving into the athletes village, Rio Olympic organizers said Thursday.We are considering isolated cases, but we havent seen enough to say it was an organized sabotage thing, Rio spokesman Mario Andrada said. He said the most likely cause was what he called 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.South Americas first games have been plagued by problems, including the Zika virus, severe water pollution, security worries and slow ticket sales. But the slipshod construction is the first problem directly touching many teams and athletes.Australia refused to check in at Sundays official opening, setting off public complaints by at least a dozen teams. Those complaints ranged from water dripping from ceilings and walls, the smell of gas, electrical shorts, and stopped-up toilet bowls -- or no toilet bowls at all.Andrada described a wild scramble last weekend to find 650 plumbers and electricians.Imagine, this was on a weekend in Rio, he said. We called literally all the constructions companies. We literally called every plumber in town.Rio is a relaxed beach town, where informal dress is normal and the work schedule is negotiable.One US official told me the workers were unprepared, working with water on the floor, working with electricity and wearing no protection; wearing flip-flops, Andrada said. But thats how we live here. Guys work with flip-flops. But the guys are technicians and know how to work.Rio organizers said 1,129 athletes and 2,449 staff members would be living in the village on Thursday. The total will swell in the next week as teams arrive from private training camps.Brazilian labor inspectors on Wednesday said they would fine the organizing committee nearly $100,000 (about 315,000 reals) for hiring workers without proper contracts required by law. It said about 630 workers did not enjoy benefits that protect them from workplace injuries.Andrada said the committee would challenge the fine.We might get fined, but not that amount, and we have 10 days to show the documents, Andrada said.---Stephen Wade on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephenWadeAP .His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/stephen-wade Patrick Sandoval Jersey . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Jaime Barria Jersey .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. https://www.cheapangels.com/733j-bobby-grich-jersey-angels.html . Tevez, who has had conflicts with coaches in the past, has not been called up since Sabella was named coach in 2011. Argentina boasts Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel Di Maria. Whitey Herzog Angels Jersey . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. Dave Niehaus Angels Jersey ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. North Queenslands NRL premiership defence wasnt just ended by Cronulla - it was obliterated.Friday nights score of 32-20 did more than flatter the Cowboys as they ran in three consolation tries in the final 10 minutes to save some face.After surviving an extra-time thriller against Brisbane last week, many questioned if they would have enough in the tank to beat Cronulla if it went to the dying stages.But the Allianz Stadium contest barely lasted that long.The Cowboys looked like a heavyweight boxer trying to hang in for the final bell at the end of the 12th round.The only problem was, there was still the best part of 75 minutes to go.Fullback Lachlan Coote knocked on with his first kick return, and by the end of the first half-hour, North Queensland had completed only four sets.In a two-minute period that summarised the match, Johnathan Thurston was put on his backside by a rampaging Valentine Holmes on a kick return in the 39th minute.A moment later, the Sharks ended the set by rag-dolling the Cowboys co-captain back into his own goal to force a line dropout.The halftime siren went and the Cowboys were saved of defending an extra set, but by then the Cowboys had conceded double the running metres of Cronulla, mmade an extra 49 tackles and had just 35 per cent of the ball.ddddddddddddIts extremely hard when you keep shooting yourself in the foot, Thurston said.It doesnt matter whether youre playing normal games or semi-final games you need to be playing your best footy and we were far from our best tonight.We just kept turning the ball over and we couldnt transition from defending well into attack and our fifth tackle options werent great, we didnt have too many of them.Coote rebounded almost immediately after halftime when he scored off a fumbled kick, but within 15 minutes the Sharks had landed the knockout blows.First through Luke Lewis, and then by James Maloney in the next set to put an end to their premiership defence.Then Maloney scored again, as the tired Cowboys defences missed tackle count reached 37.It just took too much out of us defending in the first half, Thurston said.We just couldnt transition into attack because we were just too zapped.And with it ended their shot at becoming the first team since Brisbane in 1992-93 to win back-to-back premierships in a unified competition. 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