Warm Winter Brings High Weeds to Rio Canoe Venue -- On the Scene

(ATR) Athletes tell Around the Rings large amounts of weed in the Lagoa de Freitas have affected racing during the canoe sprint test event.

A mild winter here in Rio de Janerio has allowed for the accelerated growth of weed in the lagoa, and with race organizers mowing the plants too close to the racing schedule, racers have to fight through patches of floating plants on the race course.

"It creates resistance, and you don’t want any resistance, and if someone has it on their boat, then it creates something unfair," Emilie Fournel, a kayaker from Canada, said to ATR.

Franziska Weber, a sprint canoer from Germany, agreed with the fact that some racing could be considered unfair given the weed in the water.

"The important thing to do is the work with the plants," Weber said to ATR.

"Because it is not fair to work for four years for this moment and if you lose then because of plants."

For all the issues, the International Canoe Federation says they are aware of the problem, and it will not be one next year during the preparations for the Games.

"For our sport, this is quite a common occurrence, especially in hot environments the weed does grow quite quickly," Simon Toulson, secretary general of the ICF, said to ATR.

"That won’t happen at the games. We’ll have more time to do preparations. We got to the lagoa very late so we’ve not been able to clean the course a little bit.

"We know that some of the athletes are experiencing difficulties by having weed on the boat it is a problem for us. We are actually going to try and clean it this afternoon tonight for the finals tomorrow."

In addition to the issues with the weed, athletes still are thinking about the quality of the water in the lagoa. Weber said that the water "does not look so nice," and her teammate Verena Hantl tells ATR that the issue is on the mind of many of the athletes here in Rio, even though no problems have been reported.

"I was a little worried when I came here," Hantl said.

"Our coach told us to disinfect after we paddle and wash our hands every time, and we are a little bit scared about the water."

Despite the precautions taken by athletes, not all of them are worried.

"The water is good. I feel good and I say that it is only good training here," Jevgenij Shuklin, a sprint canoer from Lithuania, said to ATR.

Deborah Page, one of the coaches from the United States, says that the issue of the quality of the water is a bit "overblown," and the main issue remains the weed that is slowing down the athletes.

Toulson said to ATR that there have been zero sicknesses so far in the event, and that the ICF has brought down a doctor to study the conditions and continue to collect data.

"All the information we have so far is there is very little risk, but we are continuously monitoring the situation," Toulson said.

"The ICF has held many events here. We have spent a lot of time with the athletes and the teams and educating them how to be careful, and so far there don’t seem to have any concerns."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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