Gold medallist Sharon van Rouwendaal (centre) of the Netherlands, silver medallist Rachele Bruni of Italy (left) and bronze medallist Poliana Okimoto of Brazil (right) pose with their medals after the Women’s 10km Marathon Swimming Final event at Fort Copacabana in Rio De Janeiro, August 15, 2016.
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Van Rouwendaal, whose training was hindered by a shoulder injury for eight months earlier this year, made it look easy as she powered to victory in 1hr 56min 32.1sec.
“I didn’t feel any fatigue so after 6km I changed my mind and thought I should push on”, she said.
Defending Olympic champion Eva Risztov of Hungary wasn’t a contender this time.
It wasn’t van Rouwendaal’s first race in Rio, however; she finished 19th overall in the 400m freestyle in the pool, and was entered in the 800m freestyle but did not race. “I prepared myself as much as I could for that”, Anderson, the 2012 London Olympic silver medalist in the event, said through USA Swimming.
Okimoto expunged the bitter memory of the London Games, where she had to be fished out of the water suffering from hypothermia. In many ways, it was just another day at the beach for sun-worshipping Brazilians with an Olympic event thrown into the mix. All 26 swimmers finished the race, a striking contrast from four years ago when two athletes, including Okimoto, had to be pulled from the water. “I fought all the way in and tried to reel them in as best as I could”.
“We’ve taken a lot of care and trouble with the water quality here as you all know and I’m glad to say that in the sport of rowing the lagoa has had excellent water quality during the Games and for the sports of marathon swimming and triathlon of Copacabana and that has been monitored on a daily basis and with visual inspection, if there were any concern any mitigating actions would be taken”, says Budgett.
While the hotel-lined beach provided a glorious backdrop, the race was held in waters that an Associated Press study found could be risky to one’s health because of raw sewage dumped into the city’s waters.
Anderson took antibiotics and probiotics for extra protection, but said it seemed like any other ocean race.
This was only the second Olympic competition held in open ocean waters.
The Canadian said the open water conditions did not play a factor in her result.
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The men’s 10K race will be held Tuesday on the same course at Copacabana.
