OLYMPICS-RIO/TEST-SAILING Olympic sailing test event continues on Rio's Guanabara Bay

Record ID: 143735

  • Title: OLYMPICS-RIO/TEST-SAILING Olympic sailing test event continues on Rio's Guanabara Bay
  • Date: 17th August 2015
  • Summary: WINDSURFERS CARRYING THEIR SAILS AND BOARDS ONTO THE SAND AFTER RACE CLOSE-UP OF WINDSURFER CARRYING SAIL ONTO SAND WINDSURFER CARRYING BOARD ON SAND BRITISH WINDSURFER WASHING HER SAIL VARIOUS OF TURKISH WINDSURFER, DILARA URALP, WASHING HER SAIL (SOUNDBITE) (English) TURKISH WINDSURFER, DILARA URALP, SAYING: "The quota race with be in Oman and six countries will qualify
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2VARZ1HL650NB37B84WUHTCJB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The second day of the Olympic sailing test event in Rio de Janeiro ran swimmingly on Sunday (August 16), with competitors looking forward to the next rounds of qualifiers for Rio 2016.
    The south-south east breeze of 5-10 knots inside Guanabara Bay blew into the sails of the Two Person Dinghy Men's and Women's races and the Men's and Women's Windsurfing, which started off the day.
    Both events began their races on Saturday, when Taiwanese windsurfer Howard Chang Hao said he may not compete if there were strong winds as this could result in his swallowing the bay's water which has recently been shown to contain high levels of disease-causing viruses.
    Chang Hao's concern was being fit for the Olympic qualifying rounds which will take place at the World Windsurfing Championships in Oman in October.
    His concerns for the qualifiers were shared by Turkish windsurfer, Dilara Uralp, who competed on Sunday, but there was little talk of the water quality as the event rolled onto its second day.
    "The quota race with be in Oman and six countries will qualify for the Olympic Games, and the last one will be for European countries in Palma de Majorca so it will be the last chance for me, I will do my best," said Uralp, who at 19-years-old is aiming for her first Olympic challenge.
    Other concerns were expressed this week by the Hong Kong Windsurfing Association, which said that it may ship the team's equipment on a long journey back home after each visit to Rio before the Games, given what they saw as exorbitant rates for rental space in the Olympic city.
    One athlete enjoying the relative proximity to home is Argentine windsurfer, Maria Celia Tejerina, even though she found the conditions surprisingly different.
    "This course is very unique. There are some lakes in Argentina which are similar to this, but that is not my case where I live in Mendoza. But (the advantage) I do have is the distance, I don't have a time change, and I can get here in five hours, so in that way I so have an advantage and I have got to make the most of it," Tejerina told Reuters on Sunday.
    The first round of sailing test events took place in August last year. The second round will run for one week until August 22, with some 55 countries and 380 competing athletes.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register