The mood in Rio de Janeiro is intense, as athletes remain laser-focused on the task at hand, trying to get in some last-minute training before the real competition starts on Saturday.

"Right now, they are like an arrow on the bowstring, there is no turning back," Zhou Yafei, a former member of the Chinese Olympic swimming team, told the Global Times on Thursday in Rio. 

Zhou, who competed in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, said the last few days before the competition are particularly tough for athletes, because everyone is trying to get as much final training as they can, while maintaining their focus and avoiding unnecessary distractions.

"This is too important for athletes not to be focused on their game," she said. "For me, I don't even want to talk to my own family in the final few days before the event, let alone others, who would constantly ask about my preparation."  

As for predicting the results of the competition, Zhou, who is in Rio this time as a spectator and sports commentator, said, "you will know after you jump into the water."

The intense mood was also vividly displayed on the faces of athletes from Italy, Great Britain and Japan, whose expressions matched the clouds gathering over Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, as if to signal an approaching storm. 

But even this can't stop them from heading out for one final training session. Italian and British sailors left early in the morning from their hotel, where a Global Times reporter was staying, carrying with them a pile of equipment from a nearby training facility. The Japanese basketball team meanwhile was found stretching at the hotel gym.

The competitive mood was shared not just by the athletes, but by diplomats as well, who are in Rio to assist their countrymen.

"I'm praying for the weather to stay like this over the next few days," an Ethiopian diplomat told the Global Times on Thursday in the hotel elevator. 

He said if the weather remains cloudy throughout the competition it would be great for Ethiopian runners, who are expected to challenge for gold medals in long-distance running.

"It's great for running. This is heaven for our runners," the diplomat said, as he walked out of the hotel accompanied by a group of athletes.