Dutch Gold and High Drama in Women's Marathon Swim

(ATR) Sharon Van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands wins gold in the women’s marathon swimming at Copacabana beach, and a controversial finish for the minor medals saw French swimmer Aurellie Muller finish second before being disqualified in spectacular fashion.

With strategy playing a big part in the 10km marathon, most athletes make the most of the draft from the lead swimmers. Van Rouwendaal however was first or second throughout the whole race and made an assertive break at the 7.5km mark, giving the 22-year-old an unassailable lead. She continued to extend her lead eventually winning in 1:56:32.1, over 16 seconds ahead of the next swimmers.

"I always knew what my race strategy would be," Van Rouwendaal said.

"We were going so slow and it was so easy. I saw we were six in a line so I thought I would sprint and try something. For the last two kilometers or one kilometer, I thought - I am going to win – I am going to do it."

The battle for silver and bronze saw current world champion Aurelie Muller of France and Rachele Bruni pushing towards the finish. After initially being awarded second place, Muller was shortly after disqualified for pushing Bruni at the finish. The dramatic overturning saw Bruni elevated to silver and Brazil’s 2013 World Champion, Poliana Okimoto, win bronze in front of her home crowd.

It was Brazil’s first medal in the open water events and Okimoto was one of three athletes in the field competing in her third consecutive Olympic marathon swim.

After three days of rough surf and challenging currents, Copacabana turned on a perfect day for the 26 swimmers with good weather and surf conditions.

Making its third Olympic appearance after debuting at Beijing 2008, it is the first time the event has taken place in the ocean, with organizers thankful for the change in conditions today.

The waves were so strong over the weekend in fact, that the starting pontoon was swept away and ended up on the beach, forcing organizers unable to replace the pontoon in time for the start of competition.

Swimming’s governing body FINA asked Rio 2016 to make changes and it was deemed that the athletes would walk into the water from the beach and then start in a line. Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada described the new start format as "Plan C", saying that even the best laid plans are subject to "acts of God and nature".

The issue of pollution in the water continued to play out in the media and plague organizers – but the athletes were not deterred.

"Since I began marathon swimming, I have had my fair share of dirty water," Australia’s Chelsea Gubecka said in the lead up to the competition.

"It doesn't faze me too much as I enjoy a challenge and take all precautions when it comes to health. To try to avoid sickness I tend to have mouthwash at hand straight after racing to kill any bacteria in the throat. But the biggest preparation and perhaps the most important is to stay hydrated, especially in the lead up to try to eliminate sickness."

IOC medical and scientific director Richard Budgett says the IOC has monitored the water quality every day to make sure there are no serious threats.

"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.

"So from the point of view from the safety of the athletes we can be happy that the water quality is great."

Written by Alice Wheeler in Rio de Janeiro.

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