AP investigation: Dirty Rio water a threat at 2016 Olympics

New Zealand triathletes gave the water at the Olympic venue the thumbs up but failed to make an impact among the front-runners at a Test event at Copacabana Beach.

“The tendency is towards improvement”, said Airton, the eco-boat leader, who was resting with his crew at the dock and wondering what to do with a half-dead cormorant they’d just found in the bay.

“Everybody runs the risk of infection in these polluted waters”, Terra said.

Hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage flow daily into Guanabara Bay.

“As an athlete who has grown up around the ocean, and swam in rivers, lakes, and ponds around the globe, the Rio water was nothing new”, Tommy Zaferes said in a comment provided by USA Triathlon.

The agency said in a statement that they deem waters fit or unfit based only on bacterial levels, as is also the practice in the U.S. and Europe.

Olympic organisers and the Brazilian government have tested only for bacteria to decide if the water is safe. But by early 2015, only 49 percent of the sewage running into Guanabara Bay was being treated, up from 17 percent in 2012.

‘The health and welfare of the athletes is a top priority for the IOC.

“Independently, FISA has also contacted experts for their advice which has also been to follow the coliform and e-coli measurements”, it was added. However, previous tests only looked for bacteria and ignored viruses, prompting the IOC to change its decision after an advisory from the World Health Organization that it should conduct more tests. The IOC medical director, Dr. Richard Budgett told the AP, “The WHO is saying they are recommending viral testing”.

The worldwide Sailing Federation is going for independent testing of the venues, for the safety of their athletes.

Amnesty global says that when reviewing the status of all 220 investigations of police killings opened in 2011 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, it found that after four years, only one case led to a police officer being charged.

We saw plenty for vultures to feast on all along the coast and the organisers have admitted they can not clean it up in time for the Olympic Games.

“There’s a standard that has to be met, and the standards were met”, Jorgensen said of the water in a phone interview Monday. However, an Olympic official said last week that there are no plans to monitor the water for viruses, which many experts consider the biggest problem.

Pezao hailed the deal as a “very important step” toward the long-promised cleanup.

Javier Gomez guaranteed Spain a place in next year’s Olympic triathlon by winning the ITU Olympic Qualification Event in Rio on Sunday as uneven road conditions caused problems for the athletes.

He conceded that “there are still areas in Rio where there is war”, but said the police were improving training and reducing their use of powerful rifles.