Updated: Lynne Cox Warns Of Swimming Through Sewage In Rio

Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS

Commentary by Casey Barrett

Is anyone getting the message yet? For the last year or two news of the filthy waters off of Rio keep appearing. Last week, the most high profile and authoritative voice yet weighed in: Lynne Cox, the icon who personifies the sport of open water swimming. In an Op-Ed piece in Sunday’s New York Times, the headline is a rather staggering statement of the obvious:

Olympians Shouldn’t Swim Through Sewage

Um, yes. Anyone out there who disagrees? It seems almost a headline fit for The Onion. Maybe we should tweak that a bit. How about:

Going for the Gold Shouldn’t Mean Going Through Rotting Animal Carcasses. Does that drive the point home more effectively?

Yet, with less than 100 days until the start of the Rio Games, that seems exactly what is going to happen in the polluted, raw sewage-filled waters of Guanabara Bay. If and when this happens, these athletes are going to get sick. There does not seem to be any doubt about that.

Cox points out that even the rowing and sailing teams that have competed in these waters have become ill — with diarrhea and flu-like symptoms. And that’s just with “incidental contact” – ie, getting splashed. What is going to happen to those athletes who actually, you know, get in to those dirty waters?

Lynne Cox can give you the answer. In her classic memoir, Swimming to Antarctica, Cox related her (literally) stomach-turning experience swimming down the Nile River in Egypt. It was a course that featured “rotting rats and dead dogs” in her way. She ended up in the emergency room, told she could have died.

Consider the dirtiest pool you’ve ever swam in. What was in there? Hair balls, used Band-Aids? Maybe a dead snake at the bottom, if you grew up in the country. At what point would you have gotten out, said that’s disgusting, and dried off until a Lifeguard was asked to clean things up?

Try to square that with the fact that this summer the greatest athletes on earth will be asked to race through raw sewage that will very well make them ill. In the most important races they will ever compete in, races certified by that glorious stamp of the Olympic rings.

There must be a better way, thinks, well, any thinking person. And there is. Lynne Cox states it at the end of her piece: Move the open water Olympic races to another body of water. In another country, if necessary. She brings up a past Olympic precedent, when the equestrian competition at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games took place on the other side of the planet – in Stockholm, Sweden.

There’s probably no need to go that far to find clean open waters to race in. But one thing seems as obvious at that Times headline – Olympic open water races should not be held in Rio’s Guanabara Bay. Move it elsewhere.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:
It has come to our attention that the New York Times and Lynne Cox made a fact-checking error in the opening line of her op-ed piece published on May 5th, 2016. Cox wrote that: THIS summer, when the Olympic Games are held in Rio de Janeiro, marathon swimmers, sailors and triathletes will be asked to compete in the highly polluted waters of Guanabara Bay. This location was cited again in the story above as the site of the open water competition in Rio. The competition will in fact take place off of Copacabana Beach. Conditions here remain a serious concern, however, international federations have stated that “water quality has been good of late” and that they are comfortable with the current site, after recent training trips without issues. Here’s hoping Cox’s warnings – regardless of the exact destination of the race – are heeded, nonetheless.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Gail Roper

7 years ago

The open water and triathlon events will be held at the south end of Copacabana beach not in Guanabara Bay.

Brent Rutemiller

7 years ago

Reply to Gail Roper

Article has been updated: Updated: Lynne Cox Warns Of Swimming Through Sewage In Rio to reflect correct location of swimming events

Elizabeth Hinely

7 years ago

Move it! People need to quit worrying about hurting feelings and think about the safety of the athletes. The rowing should be moved too.

Shannon McCabe

7 years ago

This is shaping up to be a disaster. The open water swimming, rowing, and sailing all need to be moved. The Brazilians have demonstrated a shocking apathy towards the safety of athletes, and frankly I begin to think that whatever events of the games *can* be moved at this late date, absolutely should be moved.

Richard Weinberger

7 years ago

Open water swimming venue is awesome. I hear the lake where the rowers are competing might need some work, hopefully they figure something out.

Kristine Murphy Grim

7 years ago

Reply to Richard Weinberger

I’d love to hear what’s awesome about since we are only hearing negative. Raw sewage does not sound awesome.

Richard Weinberger

7 years ago

Reply to Richard Weinberger

Kristine Murphy Grim because we are not swimming in raw sewage, we are swimming off the Copacabana beach where the water quality is perfect. I know because I will be racing in the Olympic final there this summer. When was the last time you were in Rio? Haha I bet your just another keyboard warrior.

Cory

7 years ago

Reply to Richard Weinberger

I agree with you Richard. I know that you swam in the test event and that you will be competing for Canada this summer in the 10K as well. If you say the water is ok then I am ok with that.

Marina Weinberger

7 years ago

Get feedback from the open water swimmers who have already swam the venue during the test event last summer.

Catherine Vogt

7 years ago

Casey – thank you for checking the facts…..the 10K Marathon event will NOT be in Guanabara Bay, but rather Copacabana Beach. It is frustrating to continue to see incorrect information being published; especially when the USA has 3 athletes qualified already.

PRSwimstar

7 years ago

In the NYT Op Ed piece, Lynne Cox wrote that the swimmers and triathletes will be swimming off Copacabana Beach, and that both scientists studied the tests and found that the changes of infection were extremely high — actually up to twelve miles off shore. So again, Swimming World has misquoted Ms. Cox. All due respect, the scientists have informed us that the waters off Rio are
unswayable.

It is shameful that USOC, and IOC aren’t willing to act in the interest of the athletes.