Sailing Open to Leaving Polluted Bay for Olympic Races -- On the Scene

(ATR) International Sailing Federation head of competitions Alastair Fox says that fair racing will be protected for the Rio 2016 Olympics, no matter the condition of Guanabara Bay.

"We’ll do everything we can to make sure that the race areas we choose are good for racing," Fox said at a press conference wrapping up the second sailing test event in Rio de Janeiro.

Competition ran from Aug. 15-22, with largely positive reviews from Rio and ISAF organizers and competitors.

"We want the flexibility, and we will be working with the authorities over the next year to see what can still be done to improve the pollution side of things," Fox said.

"From a race management point of view, we can move races and we will do so to get fair racing. No one can ever guarantee a completely a clean race course."

Fox confirmed that one course inside of Guanabara Bay had to be shut down on Aug. 20 due to debris caused by rain storms the night before, but maintained that the number of courses tested during the week was sufficient to ensure all races took place in fair waters.

On Apr. 22, ISAF chief executivePeter Sowrey told the AP, he was concerned about debris inside Guanabara Bay and that all racing could be moved to the three courses outside of the bay, despite the wishes of the organizing committee and broadcasters.

The federation responded in a statement provided to ATRsaying they are "still confident" that racing will be done on the three courses inside Guanabara Bay.

"With sailing, we have the flexibility to move racing around. Even scheduling can be changed on the morning of the races," a spokesperson for ISAF said in a statement.

"ISAF is working with all stakeholders and is still confident all promised works will be delivered to achieve a successful games with health of the athletes being a major factor."

At the closing press conference, French windsurfer Charlie Picon said her medal race was not impacted by debris the day after the rain storm.

"The course was quite clean and nothing was unfair for the sailors," Picon said.

"In 2014, the bay was worse for sure, and it is important to have a fair race and after the rain everything was okay. I hope it will be okay next year."

Around the Rings learned from ISAF medical commission member Nebojsa Nikolic that there were a total of 16 illnesses, a number that will probably rise in the coming days as all teams submit their information. Of the 16 cases, Nikolic confirmed that six were from a source away from the sailing event, and two of the remaining cases were not from sailors.

"Obviously, zero percent sicknesses is the goal, but having less than five percent is almost unheard of," Nikolic said to ATR.

Nikolic could not say whether the sicknesses to sailors were caused by the water of the bay, or standard travel illnesses that plague competitions worldwide. He says analysis will be done on the information, and will be produced in a report from the federation.

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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