“Nawal El Moutawakel, capping a week in Rio, gave a glowing assessment on Wednesday of the city’s progress despite being peppered at a news conference with numerous questions about the city’s severe water pollution, and concerns over political unrest and Brazil’s slumping economy”.
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Reports of dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria in Rio de Janeiro’s waters have raised – and renewed – fears that athletes are at risk of getting sick at next summer’s Olympics.
The IOC is confident that athletes will compete in safe conditions at next year’s Rio Olympics.
Rio has hosted test events for volleyball, triathlon, rowing and equestrian with road cycling on Sunday.
A similar event at Weymouth and Portland held ahead of London 2012 saw 18 eventual Olympic medallists finish on the podium.
Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi laughs during a… “The important thing is that monitoring and the cleanup programs will continue until the Games and after the Games”. This demonstrates the organisers’ capabilities and their capacity to deliver outstanding Olympic Games next year.
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.
A top official of the worldwide Olympic Committee said today they will not conduct viral tests of the Olympic waters in Rio.
But she warned “a tremendous amount of planning work remains to be completed”. “Practical experience is very important in this regard, and so we expect the organisers to take each wave of test events as an opportunity to prepare the venues and teams for the Games”.
Burling, the Team New Zealand yachting skipper, says Guanabara Bay is “definitely a pretty tricky venue” which has required intense study from Tuke and him.
This edition of the Games will take place in the “Marvelous City”, Rio de Janeiro, where you can discover one of the best views of the country, friendly people, Copacabana Beach, Sugar Loaf and the Maracanã Stadium, where the Opening ceremony and the finals of the Olympic Football held.
In addition, the Commission heard about other programmes that will leave a legacy by positively impacting millions of lives.
AP tests did not include a lagoon bordering the Olympic Park being built in the Rio suburb of Barra da Tijuca, the heart of next year’s Olympics.
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The Commission was also given updates by the organizers and their partners in areas including athlete and National Olympic Committee (NOC) services, media operations, transport, the Paralympic Games, technology, sport and worldwide Federation (IF) services, and marketing.
