World Sailing: "Written Guarantees" Venues will be finished

(ATR) Leaders from World Sailing say there is no risk that construction at the Marina de Gloria will not be finished ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Two major construction works are currently being installed at the Marina to prepare sailing for the Games, which include a complete rebuild of the marina entrance and a pipe belt that will treat raw sewage flowing into the bay.

"We’ve had written guarantees the pipe belt will be done this month, and all the communications we’ve had with Rio 2016 is all of those things are on track," Alastair Fox, WS head of competitions, said to reporters. "Worst case scenario is we won’t have a venue and I don’t think that will happen."

WS President Carlo Croce said that he spoke recently with an Italian delegation of sailors who reported the pipe belt was "85 percent complete."

The Olympic sailing regatta has come under scrutiny for its location in Rio de Janeiro’s Gunabara Bay. For decades raw sewage has flown into the Bay untreated from the surrounding metropolis of Rio and the surrounding suburbs. Going into the Games, Rio organizers presented audacious plans to clean up the body of water in time for the Olympics.

According to Croece, IOC Presidnet Thomas Bach has done everything he could to "over-push" the Rio authorities to finalize all preparations and promises to deliver a great Olympic Games. WS was advised by the IOC at one point to ease up on pressures to Brazilian authorities about the construction around the Marina because Bach felt the IOC had overstepped their boundaries. Croece said this was the only time such feelings were felt, and the federation never stopped pushing Rio on the state of the quality of the water in Guanabara Bay.

"I don’t want to convey a message that we are happy and everything is good, but we’ve been working like hell and we will work until the last day of the Olympics to do our best," Croece said.

Sewage flowing into the bay is not the only issue, as pollution in the form of solid objects floating in the Bay present tricky conditions for sailors who expect fair racing conditions. WS said that it took close to "two and a half years of negotiations," for Rio to purchase "eco-barriers" that would help remove solid waste from the Bay.

WS and the IOC maintain that the seven courses that will be used for the Olympics contain water that on most days meets World Health Organization standards for athletic competition. By using three more courses than the 2012 Olympics sailing regatta, WS believes they have "flexibility" to ensure that all classes get enough fair races during the Olympics.

"We’ve been through two test events now and we didn’t see anything that caused any concern during the course areas," Fox added.

Fox said that reports from WS Medical Commission member Nebojsa Nikolic showed, "the rate of sickness [at the 2015 test event] was well below what most people traveling would expect to find in any group of people," and that athlete’s health remains the top priority for the federation.

WS maintains constant communication with athletes competing in Rio, who they believe have put concerns over the state of Guanabara Bay to rest to focus purely on their athletic preparations.

"It’s not irrelevant, but people are not going to not turn up because they might get ill," Sarah Gosling, WS athlete representative, said.

"There are plenty of venues that we are sailing that are far worse, and it is unfortunate. People will go because they want to win."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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