Scary water stories...
Leonard_Jansen
Charter Member
Dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria at all 2016 Olympic open water venues, including swimming:
wunderground.com/video/top-stories/?video=1412230
Brain-eating amoeba in Lousiana tap water. Love the quote about it being OK to drink, just not to bathe or swim in. I must remember this so that the next time @KarenT comes to the US, we can add this to the lampreys...:
wunderground.com/video/top-stories/?video=1397919
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
Comments
I started that video with the sound muted (still at work and all), and saw St. Bernard Parish. There was a similar scare in St. James Parish (the other side of New Orleans) a year or two ago. But I didn't get anything from my 4 hours in Pontchartrain a couple years ago.
Here in the Philly area, someone caught a 31 pound catfish in the Schuylkill where I do most of my o.w. swimming. I'm told they mostly stay on the bottom. Haven't run into any so far.
My local water treatment plant does not conform to eu regulation and is only one stage treatment. But still I've only got sick once.
Down south, we have catfish and Alligator Gar to potentially deal with. I've heard that Gar generally hang out in the bottom of murky water.
We also have Alligators. But, I think they are generally more active at night, and in warmer waters.
The 50 free is pretty damned scary to me.
Such is my weirdness that I enjoy BOTH the 50 free and the 5 mile swims (I'll let you all know how scary I find 8 miles). 50 fly on the other hand... THAT is scary!
50 fly used to be less scary for me than the 50 free, because the 50 fly was over faster.
I am not a good sprinter.
What I find odd is that FINA is not raising holy Hell about the water quality in Rio at this point. It's not like a year is anywhere near enough time to mitigate this especially since it seems like Brazil has made absolutely no progress on this since it was awarded the Olympics.
Wait.... What am I thinking? This is FINA, the organization that says it's OK to conduct 10k-25k swims in water warm enough to cook ramen noodles. Never mind, my medication must need tweaking.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
I think it'll take collective action by the athletes -- if necessary a mass refusal to participate.... Maybe find a way to hold alternative events for all who would be affected, somewhere away from the Olympic venue. Of course, I can see this as being very unrealistic. But given the risk to athletes, the IOC has to do something.
There are plenty of non disgusting and non health endangering beaches (potential venues) in Brazil.
They need to relocate the applicable events to one of them.
FINA President Julio Maglione said Wednesday that water quality is "not a big problem at the moment." [link immediately starts a video...beware]
Also: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33838578
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Would he be willing to test it personally?
I am amazed at the non-statements by any of the athletes. The venue is obviously not fit for it's intention and won't be.
The amoeba...I'm less worried about. I do however have a fatalistic sense of things, as it's present in every open water venue in Florida except the ocean, which has vibrio instead... and yet, somehow, I am still healthy.
I guess the FINA president is technically correct that it isn't a problem at the current time. Of course, the Olympics aren't at the current time either, so I guess the magic sewerage fairy is going to come between now and then, wave a wand and the water will be pristine for the Olympics. What a yutz.
I am surprised that no one has yet mentioned Hepatitis A which can be gotten via sewage and, even though there are vaccines for that, they are not always 100% effective.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
It's really unfair to the athletes to expect them to compete in the conditions as they are now and as most likely they'll still be next year. And it also denies athletes the chance to train where they will race--makes no sense at any level!
Meh...the diarrhea won't set in for 12-24 hours.
The US Rowing Team didn't fare so well with regard to illness
http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/13411784/us-rowers-battle-stomach-illness-rio-de-janeiro-2016-olympics-test-event
I'm all about clean water but blaming the river on these rowers getting sick is kind of a stretch. MUCH more likely something they came into contact with on dry land.
I agree. Seems like the other teams would have gotten sick too if the water were to blame. More likely to be norovirus.
Although the condition of the water certainly is a disgrace.
This blows my mind. If the water temp is too high or too low, FINA will cancel. But water that could get the swimmer sick, and FINA has nothing to say.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Actually, in the article the team doctor said that the other teams seemed to take better precautions such as not allowing water bottles in the boats or have water bottles sealed in plastic bags. Of course, that also brings up the question of "Why didn't the U.S. team think of that?" Keep in mind also that this is not an either-or situations: some people could have picked up something walking around and some people could have gotten sick from the water - without testing it's not like you could distinguish between one or the other. Or, in the words of "Spinal Tap":
Marty: And he was replaced by...uh....
David: Stumpy Joe - Eric Stumpy Joe Childs.
Marty: What happened to Stumpy Joe?
Derek: Well, uh, it's not a very pleasant story...but, uh, he died...
uh...he choked on...the ac- the official explanation was he
choked on vomit.
David: He passed away.
Nigel: It was actually, was actually someone else's vomit. It's not....
David: It's ugly.
Nigel: You know. There's no real....
Derek: You know they can't prove whose vomit it was...they don't
have the facilities at Scotland Yard....
David: You can't print, there's no way to print a spectra-photograph...
Nigel: You can't really dust for vomit.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
A fair few years ago when SF actually had some rain.. we had some big ebbs. Along with some high tides. That means "stuff" gets picked up off the beaches and sent out the gate. Among the most interesting items...
a gold faux velvet armchair.. a refrigerator, a dead cow and the top item.. 7 ballot boxes. It was November, after election day, whose votes did not get counted?
So, maybe not "dirty water" but "dirty elections"?
Americans Kalyn Robinson and Chip Peterson think their intestinal ailments may have come from swimming in Rio waters while competing in 2007 - Robinson was forced to retire after being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease - Peterson's career was sidetracked for six years by frequent hospital trips - He had his colon removed in 2013 and began competing again - Reports of bacteria in Rio water have raised Olympic athletes' fears.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3195986/Two-American-open-water-swimmers-competed-Rio-2007-believe-crippling-intestinal-ailments-come-swimming-gross-sewage-water.html#ixzz3ijZpVqUg
I work with Kalyn. She told me the same thing a couple years ago. In better news, she and her hubby had their first child about a year ago and that little girl is already in the pool!
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
We have our 7 month old in swim lessons, and we're fortunate that he's very relaxed in the water (unlike his Dad at that age). The place that we take him apparently recently changed their rules to allow infants as young as 4 months.