On a cool and clear day following a morning drizzle, the men's and women's 49ers and laser radial races set out across Rio's central Guanabara Bay, long the object of complaints from locals here about the scant care paid to its cleanliness.
The sailors are arguably the athletes most at risk from Rio's environmental hazards, including the high levels of pollution and frequent blobs of floating trash in the city's Guanabara Bay that can snare on boats. Open water swimmers compete in a different location, in the Atlantic off Copacabana beach. This week Belgian sailor Evi Van Acker's coach announced that she had become seriously ill with an intestinal infection which he believed had been caused by contact with the polluted water.
Many sailors said they had taken precautions to prevent stomach illnesses like taking Pepto-Bismol or drinking Coca Cola. Still, they also expressed deep admiration for the venue, a stretch of bayside nestled between a dense downtown cityscape and the postcard Sugarloaf Mountain.
"Definitely it is improving, though we are still cautious about it, making sure we are not getting too much in our mouths," said Ireland's Matt McGovern, who said he has used Pepto-Bismol and anti-bacterial tablets. He said the amount of trash in the bay was "a lot better" Friday than he's seen in the past two and a half years when he's trained here.
China's Xu Lijia, a gold medalist at the 2012 Games in London, has taken ill twice during her training in Rio, but said she didn't believe she could identify the bay as the cause. "I think every year I will get some sort of fever or something and it just happened to be here," Xu said.
She acknowledged Rio's waters are not as good as some venues in other countries and that sailors cannot avoid drinking some of it. But she still had high praise for the picturesque venue.
As they train, she said they often saw the sun setting over the Sugarloaf Mountain, surrounded by clouds. "I just couldn't help but enjoy the beauty," she said. "I love this city."
