(ATR) Tokyo 2020 says netting installed in a venue in Tokyo Bay has reduced the presence of fecal coliforms to levels well below the international standard for Olympic competition.
Tokyo officials put a combination of single- and triple-layer underwater screens around the Odaiba Marine Park in an attempt to regulate the water quality in the area. The park will serve as the site for marathon swimming, and the beginning of triathlon races.
One year ago Odaiba Bay failed water quality tests, promoting fears of a second straight Olympics where athletes could be put at risk by swimming in the local water. At the time an ITU spokesperson told Around the Rings "we are confident that the field of play, for the Tokyo 2020 Games and the test events, will be in perfect conditions".
To best mimic water conditions for the Games, Tokyo 2020 said that the experiments to test the underwater nets were conducted during July and August, which will be when the Olympics will be held in 2020.
"A series of experiments were conducted at Odaiba Marine Park, the venue for the Tokyo 2020 Marathon Swimming and Triathlon events, involving the installation of single- and triple-layer underwater screens; the triple-layer screens were shown to reduce the quantity of coliforms to well within targeted levels," a Tokyo 2020 statement said about the results.
"When using triple screens, test results inside the screened areas were all within the agreed limits, even though outside of the screened area the results exceeded the targeted levels set by the corresponding international federations for 12 days due to various factors, including a typhoon which struck the area during the test period."
Tokyo 2020 said that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the organizing committee would consider "deployment of underwater screens during the [Olympic] Games" as a result.
Written by Aaron Bauer
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