OLYMPICS-RIO/TEST-SWIMMING Marathon swimmers tackle Rio's strong waves in Olympic test event

Record ID: 143019

  • Title: OLYMPICS-RIO/TEST-SWIMMING Marathon swimmers tackle Rio's strong waves in Olympic test event
  • Date: 22nd August 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) RIO 2016 DIRECTOR OF INSTALLATIONS, GUSTAVO NASCIMENTO, SAYING: "Our biggest challenge is testing the system around the competition, all the volunteers and all those involved around the race course itself, as well as the system for collecting results." RACE IN PROGRESS WITH SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN BEHIND JOURNALISTS FILMING AND WATCHING THE EVENT FROM T
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7FR3YVFSFBI8Q0D24EV7W2Z60
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Olympic Marathon Swimming geared up for its first sea plunge in next year's Games with the Rio 2016 test event on Saturday (August 22) in which athletes tackled the choppy ten-kilometre (6.21-mile) course off Copacabana Beach.
    The sport, which was introduced to the Games in 2008, has since been held in Shunyi Park in Beijing and Hyde Park in London, providing quite a challenge for competitors adjusting to Rio's typically rough winter waves.
    The competition was the first of the Olympic test event to take place exclusively in the sea, and the pressure was on for organisers, as it would be the last trial run before the real Games.
    Some 150 members of the organising committee and volunteers were on hand as part of security, communications and management operations and as support for the athletes themselves.
    "Our biggest challenge is testing the system around the competition, all the volunteers and all those involved around the race course itself, as well as the system for collecting results," said Rio 2016 Director of Installations Gustavo Nascimento.
    The ten best ranked athletes in both the Men's and Women's events this weekend will directly qualify for next year's Games, followed by the best nine ranked athletes from the International Swimming Federation (FINA) Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier in 2016.
    After that, the best ranked athletes in the FINA qualifier not yet qualified from each of the five competing continents, will achieve a place.
    Brazilian Allan do Carmo took advantage of the home waters in the Men's event on Saturday, beating the other 24 competitors in the race and guaranteeing his place in next year's Games.
    Behind him was Japan's Yasunari Hirai followed by Canadian Olympic Bronze medallist Richard Weinberger, who was taken over just in the final stretch.
    "It was good, I led most of the way and got passed at the end and I'm pretty upset by that. I got passed by Allan do Carmo, a great Brazilian and one of the best in the world and Yasunari (Hirai) from Japan," Weinberger said as he came out of the water.
    Twenty-five women will compete on Sunday morning. One swimmer who has already guaranteed her Olympic spot is Aurelie Muller of France, who won her spot as 2015 FINA Women's World Championships.
    Despite her previous success, Muller said the course needed a great deal of strategising given the contrast with conditions at previous editions of the Games.
    "It is not the same because in Beijing it is flat and in London it is the same, but here it is not flat," said Muller, who added that she was on holiday and had not trained for a week.
    Worries regarding high levels of viruses and bacteria found in Rio's waters seemed to have subsided since the first test events of the season, with athletes focusing rather on the currents and the wind adding resistance to the high endurance race which a couple of local athletes taking part did not finish.
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