FYI, op-ed piece in the NY Times today by Lynne Cox: Olympians Shouldn’t Swim Through Sewage
Any athlete coming into contact with these waters has a high probability of becoming ill. Members of the United States junior national rowing team and competitive sailors have become sick with diarrhea, vomiting and flulike symptoms after training and competing around Rio, and they experience only “incidental contact” with the water. Marathon swimmers and triathletes will ingest this water — and the consequences could be deadly....
I am worried that the Olympic coaches and athletes heading to Brazil this year are not well informed about these risks. Raw sewage from the Rio metropolitan area’s 12 million people — enough to fill 480 Olympic-size swimming pools — flows into Guanabara Bay every day. And that water flows directly onto Copacabana Beach, the site of the marathon swimming competition.
I totally agree with her...that the Olympians shouldn't be swimming in that water. (The fact that those filthy waters were choosen a decade ago for these Olympics in the first place, haven't gotten cleaned up, and are STILL going to be used now that the time has come is a whole 'nother compliant about the IOC.) But, in her book SWIMMING TO ANTARCTICA she talks about swims she did in putrid waters all over the world.
Dan
I totally agree with her...that the Olympians shouldn't be swimming in that water. (The fact that those filthy waters were choosen a decade ago for these Olympics in the first place, haven't gotten cleaned up, and are STILL going to be used now that the time has come is a whole 'nother compliant about the IOC.) But, in her book SWIMMING TO ANTARCTICA she talks about swims she did in putrid waters all over the world.
Dan
