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Rio 2016 - 49er medalist hospitalised after Olympic Test eventby Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL Aug 27, 2015, 10:32:00 (GMT Daylight Time)
Bronze medal winning helmsman Erik Heil (GER) has been admitted to
a German hospital following his return from the Pre-Olympic Test Regatta sailed
out of the Marina da Gloria and Guanabara Bay.
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Heil is suffering from severe inflammations on his legs and one hip. The
inflammations started on the plane trip from Rio de Janerio, where the
Pre-Olympic regatta finished last weekend and was hospitalized soon after
getting off the plane. Currently Heil is being treated in the well-known
Charité hospital in Berlin. He is at home in between treatment sessions.
German sailing correspondent Tatjana Pokorny, who has covered sailing at six
Olympic Regattas, told Sail-World.com that one inflammation (8 cm long) had to
be cut out in the hospital two days ago. Doctors have diagnosed a bacterial
infection, says Pokorny. 'They are now waiting for results of lab analysis.
They cut out one inflammation. In total he had five. Four on the legs. One at
the hip. The first of them developed at the Regatta and they got more inflamed
on the flight home,' Pokorny said by email.
In less than a week Erik Heil (GER) has gone from the podium in Rio de
Janeiro to a hospital gurney in Berlin.
Erik Heil
'The extremely painful operation had to be done without anesthesia as you
cannot anesthetize inflammations. The only alternative would have been a
morphine syringe into his thigh which Heil did not want. Heil is now taking
broad spectrum antibiotics', said Pokorny.
Heil blames the polluted water of the Marina and Guanabara bay for his infected
legs. Tests prior to the Pre-Olympic event revealed that ingestion of a
teaspoon of the polluted water would be enough to cause significant health
issues.
One Korean sailor was hospitalized during the event, missing a day's racing.
Another New Zealand sailor was also advised not to sail, missing three races,
suffering a gastric illness. Sources at the regatta told Sail-World that he had
been ill for four days.
Erik Heil - second from right with the other Medalists in the 49er Skiff
event at Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2015- the second sailing
test event in preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition. Held
out of Marina da Gloria
Sailing Energy/ISAF
In both cases the response of officials was to delay any direct connection with
the pollution issues at the Olympic venue, and wait for the outcome of tests.
They also claimed that the incidence of infections was about normal for a
sailing regatta of this type.
'Never in my life have I had any inflammations on my legs,' Heil told Pokorny.
'Never! I would think that this is a result of our constant contact with the
water in Guanabara Bay. The sewerage of the City Hospital goes directly into
the Marina da Gloria. I can only hope that I did not catch one of these
multi-resistant things that can really dismantle you.“
Heil cannot train at all in what remains of the European sailing season. He is
still waiting for the results of a laboratory analysis. He and his doctors
believe that these inflammations are the result of contact with infested
waters, says Pokorny.
Prior to the start of the Pre-Olympic Test Event the 49er class website
outlined the continuing continuing controversy regarding pollution levels in
the Rio waters.
Hip imflammation - Erik Heil (GER) 49er in hospital in Berlin.
Erik Heil
'The Rio 2016 officials prepared a press conference describing their
extensive efforts and have been 100% open in their working on the situation,
including having already cleaned up 8 of the 17 highest polluting sources to
Guanabara Bay. However, the numbers are staggering with 25 meters cubed per
second, so 25,000 liters of raw sewage entering Guanabara Bay each second
currently. Most disturbing is the three open sewer lines still draining into
the Marina De Gloria, the small area where the sailors launch. The construction
is 50% complete on blocking that sewage for 2016 but that does not protect the
sailors currently.
'Sailors have been warned to wear shoes at all times and shower thoroughly and
completely immediately after exiting the water due to the sewage situation in
the marina. The local are using bio remediation, which is basically introducing
good bacteria to counter the bad bacteria from the sewage within the marina
area. However, the activity against bacteria does now counter the risk of viruses,
covered by the AP two weeks ago. Since the AP report, ISAF agreed to start
testing for viruses but then changed their minds once they figured out the WHO
does not have a complete standard. Breaking news now is that the WHO advised to
continue testing, and ISAF will now have to decide how to approach the
continuing issues.'
'Most sailors are putting on a brave face, as reported by the New York Times,
since there are few other options available to them. Should illness strike
personally they may change their tune.'
'Meanwhile, at the regatta center at least two 49er teams have been taken ill
in recent days though both have now recovered in time for the start of racing.
Should a top team in contention fall ill from any of the classes it will be
interesting to hear the responses from local and international officials.'
Leg infection, Erik Heil (GER)
Erik Heil
At the end of the Pre-Olympic Test Event the newly appointed ISAF CEO Peter
Sowery indicated that the world sporting body was unhappy with the water
qukaity at the Olympic venue which was selected to showcase Sailing as an
Olympic sport.
'If we can't get the water to a level, then we'll move it outside (to the
Atlantic Ocean) for sure,' Peter Sowrey told The Associated Press on the final
day of an Olympic test event.
Sowrey is reported to have said one course for the test event
inside the bay was closed after floating rubbish hindered racing for two days.
AP also reports that Sowery complained the ISAF had received no data during the
week-long Olympic test from the state body that monitors water quality. A check
of the website for Inea -- the state institute -- showed it had reported water
quality on the bay only once in the past 10 days.
'We are not happy as a federation from the reporting on the water,' Sowrey
said. 'We're not getting the reporting we expected to get.'
Prior to the start of the Test event an independent five-month analysis by the
AP published July 30 showed dangerously high levels of viruses from human
sewage at all Rio Olympic water venues for sailing, rowing, canoeing, triathlon
and distance swimming.
The IOC has declined to endorse testing for viruses, which can cause stomach
and respiratory ailments that could knock an athlete out of competition.
The reaction of several top sailing teams has been to hunker down and sail
through the pollution issue. Work-arounds advocated by some coaches include
improving sailors' immune systems to be more resistant to the polluted water to
guzzling copious amounts of Coke if polluted water is ingested.
Other teams have admitted to conducting secret research into the pollution
issues, in the hope that their medical teams can find some
medication/immunization edge which can be used to competitive advantage against
teams that lack the resources to undertake similar testing and research.
The same teams openly advocate sailing in the waters of Rio de Janeiro and
Guanabara Bay, and deny there is a serious issue.
With attitudes like that from the sailors and coaches, coupled with the
sabre-rattling of sailing administrators, there is little real chance of an
improvement in the 12 months that remain to the 2016 Olympics.
Guanabara Bay and the Marina at Rio de Janerio
Secretaria de Estado do Ambiente do Rio
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