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New Calls To Change Olympic Sailing Venue After Windsurfer Takes Ill At Rio Test Event

28th August 2015

-Attention-More than 10 years of life-time effort can be destroyed in one day!This is not an emergency situation,...

Posted by Danny Ok on Tuesday, 18 August 2015

#Rio2016 - Sailing's world governing body has repeated its threat to pull next summer's Olympic events out of Guanabara Bay over persisting pollution concerns, as BBC Sport reports.

"If we can't get the water to a level, then we'll move it to the Atlantic Ocean," said the International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) chief Peter Sowrey.

That was in response to the Associated Press investigation which claims sailors are "almost certain to come into contact with disease-causing viruses" in the sewage-contaminated waters of Rio de Janeiro.

The latest call comes days after a South Korean windsurfer was hospitalised during the recent Aquece Rio Olympic test event, where Ireland's hopefuls struggled but thankfully avoided illness.

The Washington Post reports that Wonwoo Cho suffered dehydration, vomiting, headache and dizziness after competing in visibly polluted waters, with his coach Danny Ok adding: "I hope IOC and ISAF must consider how the safety issue will be improved for the next year."

Published in Olympic
MacDara Conroy

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MacDara Conroy

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MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

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