Blue water lapping on the white sand beneath palm trees and a warm cloudless sky.
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Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng, who won the world title in Beijing last summer, was almost 50 metres from the finish line when Jebet won, and had to settle for silver.
And that wasn’t supposed to happen.
The open water competition in Rio marked a return to Olympic swimming’s ocean roots.
“She pushed down my arm at the finish… she obstructed me and I could not touch the board”, Bruni said. Dutchwoman Sharon van Rouwendaal won gold in one hour 56 minutes 32.1 seconds.
Poliana Okimoto was upgraded to the bronze medal to win Brazil’s first swimming medal.
Okimoto may be right about that.
She was hoping for rough and breezy conditions that would not favor the pool swimmers but the water was smooth. I was swimming so easily at the beginning. “Once my hand enters [the water], I can see it”.
Sharon Van Rouwendaal takes home the gold.
But that doesn’t mean the race went off with a hitch – this is Rio, after all.
The race got off to an unusual start as 26 swimmers waded into the waves.
Yup, team representatives float on a boat in the middle of the course and hold out long grabby sticks holding each swimmer’s refreshment of choosing into the water.
“You don’t really win off the start”, Anderson said.
“So you just kind of have to go with it and not worry too much”.
Aurelie Muller’s attempt to dunk Rachele Bruni on the line was the reason for her disqualification in the 10 kilometre open water swim, the latter has revealed. She finished 13th, more than a minute behind the victor. A warship kept watch a little farther out on the bay and a few helicopters hovered overhead. And though the American closed fast, passing 14 swimmers on the final lap, it wasn’t fast enough to reach the medal stand.
She said: “Five years ago, I got bronze at the world championships but on the 200m backstroke. I fought all the way in”.
Haley Anderson of the US, who finished fifth, said she took antibiotics and probiotics in the weeks leading up to the competition but felt good throughout the race.
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Horner even said the water had one advantage she didn’t expect. But these suggestions should be sent To avoid distracting other readers, we won’t publish comments that suggest a correction. “It’s Copacabana. The venue is unbelievable”.
