Ferry Weertman Wins 10k Open Water Gold Medal in Stunning Photo Finish

Photo Courtesy: Eric Seals-USA TODAY Sports

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The Netherlands’ Ferry Weertman won Olympic gold in the men’s 10k open water after touching out Greece’s Spiros Gianniotis in a furious sprint to the finish Tuesday morning at Copacabana Beach in Rio.

Gianniotis pulled away from a crowded pack of more than eight swimmers with about 100 meters to go, but Weertman went with him down the finishing chute. Gianniotis appeared to reach the finish ahead, but he missed the pad on his first attempt to touch, and Weertman got in aheadof him. He won by less than one tenth of a second, as both Weertman and Gianiotis recorded times of 1:52:59.8.

“Even after I touched the wall, I wasn’t sure I’d won,” Weertman said. “It took me a while. I called my friends back home and they said ‘You won, you won!’ and I’m like, ‘Oh really?’ I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it.”

The medal completes the Dutch sweep of the open water gold medals after Sharon van Rouwendaal picked up the gold in the women’s 10k Monday. For Greece, it was their first medal in any swimming event since 1896 in the first edition of the modern Olympic Games in Athens—coincidentally, the last time that any Olympic swimming events had been held in the ocean.

“Every single meter of the training, every single day and hour, it’s just come down to the perfect moment,” Gianniotis said. “I think that’s a really good way to go.”

Great Britain’s Jack Burnell touched third but was disqualified a second yellow card earned for an knocking the arm of Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli right before the finish. The bronze then went to France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier, who finished less than a tenth of a second ahead of China’s Lu Zijun. Both posted times of 1:53:02.0.

“I didn’t know at the beginning where I had finished,” Olivier said. “When I touched, I didn’t know. It’s only when I got into the boat that I knew my position, and so then I started crying.”

Burnell blamed Mellouli for the situation, claiming that Mellouli had pulled his leg and prompted the arm push. Mellouli, who was also given a yellow card for the mix-up, defended himself to the press afterwards.

“I got pulled pretty heavily, elbowed. I’ve got to see the replay,” Mellouli said. “Everybody’s angry if they lose. I was situated to get a medal, too.”

The United States’ Jordan Wilimovsky came in fifth at 1:53:03.2, just more than a second away from the second-ever open water medal for the U.S.

“I kind of got pushed around, but congrats to the guys who did really well,” Wilimovsky said. “Unfortunately I got kind of stuck in the middle. I didn’t really know where anyone was. I just saw splashing.”

Italian teammates Simone Ruffini (1:53:03.9) and Federico Vanelli (1:53:04.6) were sixth and seventh, respectively, and Japan’s Yasunari Hirai (1:53:04.7), Germany’s Christian Reichert (1:53:04.7) and South Africa’s Chad Ho (1:53:04.8) rounded out the top ten.

Russia’s Evgenii Drattcev finished 11th in the same listed time as Ho, and defending champion Mellouli was next in 1:53:11.7. American Sean Ryan finished 14th in 1:53:15.5.

The race for the medals came down to the wire, but only after Australia’s Jarrod Poort surrendered what had been a massive lead for the majority of the race. Poort ended up fading all the way to 20th, more than 40 seconds behind Woortman.

In a sizzling first lap, Poort opened up a 57-second lead on the rest of the field at the first 2.5k turn buoy. The deficit created a striking scene with Poort and one accompanying kayaker way out ahead of the pack of boats following the other 24 swimmers, all bunched within 11 seconds of each other at that point.

Poort extended his lead at the halfway point, going through in 56:58.3, 1:16 ahead of anyone else. As Poort passed the feeding station, the entire rest of the pack—still bunched up—was two full buoys behind him.

In June comments to The Saturday Paper, Poort said, “Swimming is at times a very lonely sport. You are stuck with your head in the water, and it is just you and your thoughts battling it out.” Indeed, Poort was all by himself at this point.

The gap was down to 40 seconds with one lap to go, and the pack was in hot pursuit, led by Mellouli. But it was still anyone’s game for a medal with 22 of the 25 that started the race all within eight seconds off each other.

The chase pack came quickly, narrowing the lead down to 24 seconds in less than a kilometer, and Poort fell out of first place before reaching the halfway point of that lap. Leading the charge was Weertman, who took over first place while bringing Wilimovsky, Mellouli and Burnell along.

But as the four swimmers charged down the finishing stretch, even more of the pack caught up, and with only 200 meters to go, a line of seven swimmers straight across battled towards the finish before Gianniotis pulled away, and Weertman followed.

Click here to view full race results.

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Stavros

7 years ago

In 1896 the race was held in the Aegean Sea, not the ocean

Adam Scottsman

7 years ago

I watched, the Greek swimmer Spiros should have won as he crossed the line first (!) and attempted twice to hit the target.

There should just be a finish line in the open sea, not a ridiculous jostling for a wall after a 10k swim. It’s unnatural, the point is it’s an OPEN swim and then suddenly we are looking for who can hit a plastic wall?

On another note, summer Olympic Games should go back home to Greece permanently. The water is clean and sparkling clear, there are all kinds of conditions to swim in from windy islands to mainland beaches to deep, rougher seas. I love Brazil, congrats Brazil, and Japan should be nice, but Greece Invented the games and hosted them for 1,200 years, so let’s go back there, simplify. .

Theo Kalyvas

7 years ago

Reply to Adam Scottsman

Dear Adam,
I fully agree with you but the problem is that I’m Greek and my comment is not objective.
In deed in Greece you can swim from April to November in water temperatures between 18-24 C , in crystal clear and calm waters even in the region of Athens. Concerning the permanent organizing of the Olympic games in Greece, I also fully agree but there is to much money and interest in stake so its never going to happen.

Theo Kalyvas

7 years ago

Congrats for Ferry Weertman for his gold medal and to Spiros Gianniotis for his medal but most importantly for his ethos. He refused and actually stopped the procedure of objection of the Greek Olympic committee claiming the gold medal.
Rules are the same for everyone and the Dutch rightfully won the gold, as much as it hurts for me as a Greek swimmer.
The finishing system by touching the wall after swimming 10k is idiotic and should change.
Many congrats to all finishers.

Diavolos

7 years ago

Gianniotis won, why do you need to hit a thing to win? Gianniotis was in front of the other swimmer when he hit the metal thing. Does it matter who is first or faster or does it matter who hit a plate first?

If Gianniots never hit the plate would he be in the last position even thought he was indeed the best and fastest swimmer?