Story highlights Australian Olympic team says Rio athletes' village unfinished

City's mayor offers to get them a kangaroo to make them feel at home

(CNN) The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has offered to get a kangaroo for the Australian Olympic team after they refused to move into the Athletes' Village over safety fears.

"We want them to feel at home here," Eduardo Paes said. "I almost feel like putting a kangaroo to jump up and down in front of their building."

The Australian Olympic Committee said in a statement Sunday that its athletes are staying in hotels rather than the village due to the condition of the official accommodation.

Responding to Paes' offer, Australian committee spokesman Mike Tancred told a Brazilian newspaper "we do not need kangaroos, we need plumbers to account for the many puddles found in the apartments."

Team Australia refuse to live in "uninhabitable" Olympic Village. Rio mayor says it's nicer than the one in Sydney https://t.co/PxTOya92KG — Andrew Downie (@adowniebrazil) July 24, 2016

Several days away from completion

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