Olympic rowing venues tend not only to be away from the bustle of the Olympic Games, but of daily life as well; remote, barren, and nearly abandoned when the crews leave each day. On a good day, racing in the Olympics on the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas would be almost dreamlike; with the starting line directly under Corcovado, the lake surrounded by park lands with soccer fields, dog parks, skateboard parks, playgrounds, swan-shaped paddleboat rentals, and hundreds or thousands of folks walking, running, biking, exercising, playing, taking pictures, feeding the sea birds, going to work, and more.
Without the winds that are creating swamping/sinking/flipping conditions, not to mention skewing the lane lines such that in Lane 4 there is no way to get from the starting block to the finish line in a straight line, this venue would be among the best rowing has ever seen - it would be like racing in Bled but three blocks from Ipanema Beach, five from Copacabana, very near the biggest urban forest in the world, and right under one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
But if you saw any of the live feed yesterday, or even saw screen captures from the live feed, you know we're not talking about some chop out on the water. With full-blown waves swallowing the shell of Gevvie Stone while on her way to winning the heat, and the Sinkovic brothers losing an oar during their race, the comments about skill and boatsmanship being important were incongruent with what was happening out on the water; when the heat winner pretty much sinks, you're in different, well, waters.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time an open, natural course has been plagued by massive wave problems; the heats at the beautiful Karapiro course also featured massive waves and swamping crews. Some pics here and here and here.
To be fair, the winds are afflicting the entire Games; tennis was similarly postponed, and issues were reported at beach volleyball as well as in the Olympic village, where stuff got blown around pretty good. Just outside the rowing course, leaves from the local trees were flying over the tops of buildings and getting trapped against the fences surrounding the lake with loud cracking sounds, and 40 mph gusts making dozens of flags unfurl. it was windy.
But perhaps the biggest factor today was the fact that crosscables at the middle and end of the course had either broken or had anchors pulled out, and the lanes lines were all over the place.
Thus, after two consecutive one-hour delays, first to 9:30 and then to 10:30, FISA finally canceled racing for the day at 10:20 due to "technical installation difficulties caused the by the strong winds and the forecast for the afternoon which indicates averse weather conditions."
After a noon manager's meeting (that went overtime, surprise), Matt Smith gave a press conference at which he explained the situation to the mainstream media, who wanted to know how rowing courses work, and if the racing would have been held if there had been no course problems. Smith was circumspect on that point; for rowers' purposes, there isn't much value in wondering if the water was or might become good enough across the course if there aren't any lanes to race in.
The new draw finally came out at around 1:45; despite the forecast not being a ton better than today, they are going to try to get both today's and tomorrow's full slate of races in. It is probably wishful thinking, but is also probably the best Plan A, so long as Plan B has already been discussed. You can see the draw here.
Last year at Junior Worlds there were a couple less than perfect days, but nothing like this; my strong sense is that if the winds were not so insane, this venue and regatta would be a blowout success; it is really a shame to see things going this way - but as a lot of winter and spring break coaches have learned, rowing and proximity to the ocean don't always mix so well.
The problems started in the morning training session when Mirka Knapkova flipped during training; Matt Smith's comments yesterday about the skill of the rowers coming into play is being absolutely wrung out on social media as the very top athletes exchange commentary about who is and isn't skilled enough to handle the conditions; here is a small sample:
Tomorrow's lesson no.1 = HOW TO HOLD THE OAR IN YOUR HAND! Hello semifinals ?? #RowingInRio #rio2016 #HRio #bro2rio pic.twitter.com/cciL7EmpbH
— Sinkovic Brothers (@SinkovicBros) August 6, 2016
Who pulled the plug out? @petertaylornz pic.twitter.com/adE9cGdGu6
— James Thompson (@jmtrow) August 7, 2016
Wind storm at @Olympics village. Structural integrity of the food hall being tested today! pic.twitter.com/QQLnv54Ot8
— KIWIPAIR-EricMurray (@kiwipair) August 7, 2016
After passing Knapkova having a swim in the warmup lane today,I don't want to hear any more about "skill level" being a factor in conditions
— Megan Kalmoe (@megankalmoe) August 7, 2016
Notes the from the course:
Not much happened so not much to say today, but here goes:
There are still tickets available for tomorrow for rowing - with the new racing schedule, be sure to get your tickets! #rowing #rio2016
— World Rowing (@WorldRowing) August 7, 2016
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