Meanwhile, Australian team boss Kitty Chiller has effectively given up on a response to her official request that local authorities bolster security on the ground in Rio earlier than planned. Australian team boss Kitty Chiller wanted Rio authorities to bolster security. Credit:Jeffrey Chan This is despite the fact the early security boost that has been proposed in writing by Chiller has been formally endorsed by the International Olympic Committee. Chiller's request follows several alarming incidents in Rio with Australian team connections. The latest concerned an AOC staffer who witnessed a close range shooting while in a cafe in reputedly affluent Ipanema. Fairfax has been told the AOC employee has had counselling over the incident but is set to remain part of the travelling team to Brazil for the games that begin on August 5. In June, Australian paralympian Liesl Tesch and team physiotherapist Sarah Ross were robbed at gunpoint while training in Rio. Tesch, who won gold for Australia in sailing at the 2012 Olympics and has also won silver and bronze medals in wheelchair basketball in previous Olympics, described the incident as "absolutely horrific".

Chiller wrote two weeks ago to Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, to push for security boosts as soon as possible. She also wrote to Rio games organising head Carlos Arthur Nuzman. Paes claimed earlier this year that Australian Olympic bosses had peddled unnecessarily negative messages about the host city and described the AOC as "a source of aggressions to Brazil". This followed the AOC issuing an official edict to national team members that they should not visit Rio's favelas. In the view of the AOC, security in Rio next month for the Australian team poses a vastly greater risk than the Zika virus. "To be honest, what would keep me awake more at night is the potential risk with security," Chiller, who lands in Rio next week, told Fairfax Media. "The 780 people I take over I want to bring them all back safely and well."

The AOC is satisfied with the planned deployment of 100,000 security personnel on the streets of Rio during games time, but has formed the strong view this should happen earlier. Chiller is bemused and clearly concerned that she has had no response to her request from either Mayor Paes or the games' organising head, Nuzman. It seems a particularly extraordinary state of affairs given the IOC urged local authorities to respond to Chiller. "More and more teams from all countries, not just Australia, will be starting to arrive in the next couple of weeks," Chiller said. "It's disappointing not to get a response. And every day that goes by that we don't get a response is one less day that they can put in place what we had asked for. Which is to bring forward the deployment of the 100,000 strong security forces.

"Obviously they're [Paes and Nuzman] very busy, and they've got a lot to do. But security, I think, needs to be first and foremost in their mind, knowing the incidents that have taken place. So it's disappointing to not even get an acknowledgment in the first instance, just – 'received your letter and thinking about it'. "Come games time they will be in place, so come games times I'm fully confident that the venues and the streets will be safe." Asked whether she would continue to pursue the matter through Paes and Nuzman, Chiller said: "Probably not. You sort of wonder what the point is. Maybe when I'm there next week."