WHO and Sailing Body Seek Virus Tests in Rio Olympic Venues

Saying that recent stories about raw sewage in Brazilian waterways that will serve as Olympics venues in 2016 helped “wake us up again and put this back on the agenda”, the head of sailing’s world governing body says his group will test for viruses and bacteria in the water.

Prime beaches are deserted because the surf is thick with putrid sludge, and periodic die-offs leave the Olympic lake, Rodrigo de Freitas, littered with rotting fish.

Biologists last year said rivers leading into the bay contained a superbacteria resistant to antibiotics that cure urinary, gastrointestinal and pulmonary infections.

In a statement to the AP, the World Health Organization said it has suggested the global Olympic Committee start monitoring for viruses at the Rio venues.

The worldwide Sailing Federation’s chief executive, Peter Sowrey, tells the AP that the move is prompted by concerns over athletes’ health and safety. “We remain committed to be absolutely transparent with athletes about the state of the water before every day of competition”. But Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes has repeatedly acknowledged this will not be done, calling it a “lost opportunity”.

Sowrey said he received a call the other day from a woman whose child was participating in an Olympic sailing test event later this month in Rio’s Guanabara Bay.

In May, Brazil’s environmental secretary André Correa jumped into Guanabara Bay – which will hold sailing events during the Olympics – on live TV on Globo’s Fantástico to prove that the water was safe, according to the Mashable.

The problem, the story said, stems from untreated sewage water which flows down hillside waterways that feed into the main sources of water for several Olympic sports. “But the backdrop of Rio is an unbelievable backdrop, and will do something for the sport of sailing”.