In a Q&A hosted by NBC Olympics on reddit, Olympian Haley Anderson addressed a question regarding open water conditions for the upcoming Tokyo Games.
Reddit user marco_esquandolas posed the following question:
“I work for a labor union. I was shaking my head at the past Olympics at the health conditions open-water swimmers had to risk simply in order to compete in the sport’s most prestigious event. Do you think part of the bid evaluation process should focus more on water quality standards? Should minimum standards for bacteria, etc. be stronger? Do you worry about the health risks? Is this a live topic of discussion among your fellow competitors?”
Anderson gave the following answer, saying athletes have voiced concerns that have “gone unheard”:
“It’s something that we have had to deal with in the past and are still dealing with now. For Tokyo our event is not only being compromised with water quality (e. coli) but also water temperature (84-86 F) Which is very unsafe. There is also no plan B venue, which in my opinion should be non negotiable. It’s something we have discussed among competitors but we also have spoken out and gone unheard so far. It’s hard to go into the Olympics being concerned for our safety because I am not confident in FINA (aquatic governing body) or the IOC (international olympic committee) to have the same concern for the athletes.”
Last August, athletes including three-time Olympic medalist Ous Mellouli voiced their concerns after participating in an Olympic open water test event in Odaiba Marine Park, Japan. “That was the warmest race I’ve ever done,” Mellouli said at the time. “It felt good for the first 2km then I got super overheated.” Japanese swimmer Yumi Kida added that the water was “a little stinky” and that clarity was poor.
In October, Anderson and fellow veteran and 2020 qualifier Ashley Twichell were set to represent the United States in the inaugural World Beach Games in Doha, but both the U.S. and Canada pulled out of the event due to anticipated high water temperatures.
The race went ahead with 28 women and 28 men competing, however, and officially reported water temperature was at 30.9 degrees Celsius, or 87.6 Fahrenheit. The water was just barely inside of FINA’s acceptable range for official competition: 16-31 Celsius, or 60.8-87.8 Fahrenheit. The race took place in the same body of water where Fran Crippen died during a 2010 FINA Marathon Swim Series while racing in hot conditions.
Very disturbing that Ashley does not have confidence in either IOC or Fina to have her best interest at heart regarding her Wellbeing during the premier openwater race on the planet. Race guidelines are in place for athlete safety and extremes at either end of these boundaries will cause certain athletes more discomfort than others but that is racing and everyone has to race in the same pond. How you prepare for it largely determines your outcome.
Should read “Hayley” not Ashley.
it definitely goes beyond discomfort. the water temps are usually 5-10 degrees fahrenheit warmer than any competition pool and they’re swimming much, much longer events, which are of course grueling and intense. bacteria, too, has cause many concerns. there is safety personnel on site, but they may be largely untrained “supervising” staff that ride around on jet skis, meaning there’s not always a first responders readily available in, say, the middle of a large bay where some of these races are. it is cause for concern.
also, “very disturbing”? it is fully in her rights and privileges to be concerned. swimming doesn’t last forever, and to acquire some strange disease from a race (it’s happened a few times before… Read more »
I have to disagree, I think it goes beyond “discomfort.” The upper limit of comfort for me (someone who stops frequently and is not trying to win any medals) is like 82F. Now make me work harder, with no breaks, in an extremely high-stress environment, and increase the temperature significantly. The race guidelines are ostensibly in place for athlete safety, but the fact that the upper limit allowed in competitions is 31C/88F is straight up dangerous. If you’re going to be putting out a high level of effort in hot water with no breaks for very long periods of time, how you prepare for it does very little to make it safer.
That’s not even touching the water quality issue.
There is no way USA swimming can help to get lawyers involved?
Uh oh…. Stinky
This has been making me frustrated for a long time. People need to do something about it right now.
Bravo to Haley for speaking her truth. Our athletes deserve better.
This is just ridiculous.
Oh fun! Another Fran Crippen tragedy waiting to happen