Officials Assure Olympic Sailing Venue Will Be Ready

Sailors at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be protected by a fleet of special trash collecting boats, organizers said Thursday (July 9, 2015), admitting there is no time to resolve a serious pollution problem.

Most preparations for the Olympics, the world’s biggest sporting event, are on track to be completed for the August 5, 2016 opening ceremony, said Rio2016 organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada.

Asked to rate overall progress on a scale of one to 10, he told AFP: “We are about nine.”

The most problematic issue appears to be the stunningly located, but filthy Guanabara Bay, which will host sailing and windsurfing events.

Alarmed by garbage and raw sewage pouring out of Rio and reports of dangerous bacteria, prominent sailors have called for the contest site to be relocated beyond the bay in cleaner Atlantic waters.

Andrada acknowledged that Rio de Janeiro’s promise in its original Olympics hosting bid to clean Guanabara was not feasible, but he ruled out changing plans.

“No,” he said when asked about moving the site. “The competition can be done with all the safety and fairness inside the bay.”

So-called eco-boats — green, rectangular craft driven around picking up rubbish — will be deployed to keep debris from competition areas.

“We have mapped the currents around the bay and we have mapped how the garbage moves around. So around the areas of the regattas we’re going to have a special fleet of eco-boats. We already know where the garbage is and we’ll take it off.

“The bay will be much better on the games time than it has been,” Andrada promised.

Full AFP story at Yahoo News.