At the Olympics in Paris, Sharon van Rouwendaal, a Dutch swimmer, came from behind to win gold in the women’s 10k marathon swimming event. The race was held on the Seine River, with the Eiffel Tower in the background once the water pollution levels were judged safe enough for competition.
With a record time of 2h 03m 34.2s, Van Rouwendaal finished first, followed by Australian Moesha Johnson in second place, 5.5 seconds behind, and Italian Ginevra Taddeucci in third place.
The athlete, who was the gold medallist in Rio in 2016 and the silver medallist in Tokyo, won the event for the third time in a row. She got past Johnson by navigating a pilon that was passing beneath the Pont des Invalides bridge.
With her victory, Van Rouwendaal admitted that it was dedicated to the memory of her pet dog, Rio, who died in May. She expressed: “Swimming is my everything, but so was he. When there were complications in May, he died shortly afterwards. Then my world stood still and I wanted to swim for him one more time… My father said: swim one more time and do it for him. And that’s what I did.”
Updates on other swimming events
Poor bacterial readings caused significant disruptions to the triathlon, resulting in the cancellation of all swim training sessions and a 24-hour postponement of the men’s individual competition until Wednesday.
The water contamination levels had also forced the cancellation of the 10k race training.