Speculation the Olympics’ colour changing pools turned swimmer Ryan Lochte’s hair green?

THE amazing colour changing pools in Rio have been the talk of the Olympics. Now it seems they have claimed a new victim - this guy’s hair.

Ryan Lochte (left) with the rest of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay celebrating gold in Rio. Picture: Instagram

THE curse of Rio’s magic multi-coloured pools appears to have claimed another victim with US swimmer Ryan Lochte’s hair turning green.

Olympic officials have come in for questions as first one, and then two, of the pools in Rio changed from a crystal clear blue to a deep and murky green.

Some athletes complained of stinging eyes and that they couldn’t see properly, as chlorine levels were blamed for the shade change.

“It’s very difficult to play in this water because the chlorine is really, really strong for the eyes,” said Mladan Janovic, a water polo player from Montenegro. “You cannot even see.

“When they finished their matches, I saw Hungarians, Australians and also Greek players … it was like everybody was crying.”

On Wednesday, Ryan Lochte made his way on to the podium to celebrate the USA’s win in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay. To celebrate, he yesterday posted an image of he and his team mates, including Michael Phelps, clutching their gold medals aloft.

But there seemed to be something very wrong with Lochte’s hair — it too had turned green.

The Olympian had already turned heads when, at the Rio opening ceremony, he revealed he had dyed his normally brown hair a shimmering silvery grey with a touch of blue.

But the blue seems to have gone — replaced by a colour to match the Olympic pools.

People commenting on his Instagram account hailed Lochte as a new “merman” and speculated if he had dyed his hair as an early homage to St Patrick’s Day.

However, others had a more convincing theory, suggesting the Olympic pools had been a hair dye disaster for Lochte.

“He, along with EVERY other swimmer, probably knows that chlorine turns hair green,” said one with the general consensus being pool chemicals and hair dye just don’t mix.

The water of the diving and water polo pools went from blue to green earlier this week. Photo: AP

But, it appears, Lochte was messing with his social media followers after all, deliberately doctoring the photos to ensure his hair colour matched the hue of Rio’s worrying pools.

And besides, the pools that went green were the water polo and diving pools. While Lochte’s victory was at the indoor, and still very blue, swimming pools.