With Brazil winning its Olympic bid today, Copacabana Beach will be the site of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in 2016. With the first Olympic 10K in a rowing basin and the second Olympic 10K in a man-made lake, Copacabana Beach can present real rough water with waves, currents and surface chop always a possibility.
2 comments:
"Copacabana Beach can present real rough water with waves, currents and surface chop always a possibility." --> I hope so. I am looking forward to seeing true open water swimming. It is a skill to negotiate the sets of waves, currents, and surface chop. Swimming in such conditions is part of the thrill of being an open water swimmer.
You are absolutely correct, although the purpose at the Olympics is to win medals. Therefore, we predict the race will be the classic pack race that was seen at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. There have been some fascinating recent scientific studies on surface ocean currents that indicate, at least to us, that figuring out currents at any one time in any given race is more of a matter of luck than it is of an acquired skill, especially when one is swimming parallel to shore. However, we know that the best swimmers and their coaches will study the water tendencies at Copacabana Beach years in advance to obtain the best general knowledge of the waves and currents. Note: the race will not require the swimmers to body-surf and run up to the beach to the throngs of Olympic fans. Rather it will finish in the water. In any case, it will be very exciting.
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